randomness

monday soccer days are great...every tuesday i go to work and get ready to zone out in the latter half of the day for good reasons. I don't even have to run too much to train for ippt anymore! hooray! the dslr has been good and the reading heavy. credit card bill also heavy cos amazon sapo all on photography books. farks. ah well, all in the name of good pictures when out for trips. speaking of which, my butt is itching for more. I so want to do the laos and cambodia. i wonder when they would ever allow us to ride into china. it'll be absolutely wonderful to ride into Lhasa. I dare say tibet is my spiritual home..well..dat is until i visit bhutan...all this is making me feel godly, but im not about to turn vegan, so please call me when ur out for meats and wines. have been researching for wildlife conservation programs these days. wondering hard how to make WEA work and wat sort of programs we can organise to make kruzers more aware of their surroundings. gotta think fast cos it's gonna be time for studies again....this portion's really draggy..can't wait to get to writing the thesis and get it over and done with. still...wondering when i can blast out for a ride again. need the wind in the face.........

camera blues....

i got my first dslr!

supposed to be studying....ohhh...wat the heck...

singaporean forumer = idiot

It is shocking to know someone got shot at in the "safe" streets of Singapore. (in the MRT station, to be exact) Being curious, I searched asiaone for what is the first operational shooting in 6 years.. but I got pissed at the comments made in its forums on the police force.

Singaporeans are a big bunch of complainers and whiners. Many people i know are like this: give u little pay, complain, give you more pay, you say they're gonna tax you more. (DUH?)

BUT dissing people who have been serving and protecting YOU smells badly like biting the hand that feeds you. the recruitment ads that the armed and police forces put out may be exaggerated, but respect should be given where it's due.

While the shooting does seem like an excessive use of force, some of the crap these farkers put out really takes the cake. "he should have aimed his hand or leg", "don't the police learn close combat?", "if police don't charge at him, how will a person charge at the police?"

i mean, wat the fark? have u shot a pistol? do you know how accurate the weapon is? do you think u can aim at his arm or leg, with one eye squinting at a man running at you with a knife in his hand? do you expect him to shoot the knife off his hand? do you think he can have a nice little close combat with him with a pistol in your hand and a knife coming at you? the last question really takes the cake - that idiot actually expects the police to run away from the suspect, so that he won't feel the need to charge at the police?! he goes into an MRT station with a knife having just killed someone, do you think the police should let him go home and take a shower first?

i would really dread to see such a man in blue. selfish, self-centred and being all self-righteous. he doesn't have the slightest idea of what a law enforcement officer goes through before he shoots a round.

Granted that deriding such a person may give me great pleasure, but he has a point in when he says that the man may be unstable. the man could be mentally deranged, drugged out (thus impervious to pain), or depressed enough to cause him to stab someone.

now, we can't possibly know and the police officer who pulled the trigger may live in regret even.

having gone through taser training recently, i think it's time every police officer be issued with a taser (non-lethal) and a pistol (lethal). we wouldn't have to go through this sort of drama again and could probably save the life of the assailant and bringing him before justice.

with all the flak that the spf gets recently with the escapee and this shooting, it's easy for singaporeans to be cynical. that's wat we do best. but please, when you whine and complain, put yourselves in their shoes.

Consider this: imagine you're the home affairs minister, wat would u have done to catch the escapee? and if you were the officer at the MRT scene, with your gun the only weapon you have against someone who has just killed and charging at you, what would you have done?

Singapore Airshow 2008!

the most exciting thing to hit town this week is the Singapore Airshow!

I didn't have much interest in aviation seriously and my work doesn't deal with it. Tuesday was the first time I actually saw an airshow and i absolutely loved it!

so much so that I went back on thurs with my camera! I didn't walk around the exhibits much on tues as it was inconvenient but boy did I walked till my heels ache yesterday.

reaching just minutes before the show started and standing in the afternoon sun from 1230 to 1330hrs, i snapped away almost 2 batteries worth of pictures and gained a burnt skin. The quick and fast jets like the F16 and F18 Super Hornets were really hard to catch, while it's almost impossible to catch the black knights soloists cross each other unless u can multiple shots like an SLR.

(Again, click on the pics to catch a clearer, bigger pic. These small pics allow for faster loading of the page so...)

The Changi Exhibition Centre - A purpose built exhibition Centre

The vast grounds of CEC

Look closely - The Black Knights appear!

Off in a delta formation

Black Knights in a swan formation

each plane did it's own barrel roll, resulting in a beautiful interlinked smoke trail

the black knight mirror

the alpha pass - a slow speed maneuvre that can be very dangerous

a closer look at the F16 alpha pass

the finale - curtain

only managed to capture 2 planes..no time to zoom out yet!!

F/A 18 Super Hornet - US piloted

Alenia Aermacchi - an advanced fighter trainer

Can't capture good pics of the F16 and Korea Aerospace Industries T50 Golden Eagle - too fast!
So we have the grand dame A380 to wow the spectators

best show of the whole lot - Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Roulettes

in a graceful delta

pilatus PC9 - RSAF acquired these classic lookers for basic trainers

I don't know the name of this move but it requires good timing and solid command from the leader

was there on monday and it was the only act then that had voice commands from the leader broadcasted to the audience below - absolutely loved it and lets the audience appreciate the timings and trainings to achieve this. Subsequently, the Black Knights did the same thing on Thurs...sometimes, imitation is the best form of flattery.

Catch the roulettes on http://www.defence.gov.au/Raaf/roulettes/team.htm

The leader fly past

another formation

roulettes mirror

i think this is called the vulcan roll. impeccable timing from the leader to pull this off

the finale and a burnt me....

An hour in the sun was worth it for me as I eagerly snapped photos of the performing planes. but the best thing today was that one of the roulette members (roulette 4) emailed me via flickr to ask to use my pics for their team's photo dvd collection! really made my day to have such an honour...:)

it was also quite an honour to be next to MM Lee when he was making his rounds! his security perimeter is bigger than some HDB flats!

cool looking space age helmets

Chinooks in the static display

A380 opens its doors

ferrari private jet!

you won't see this in F1 though!

Been a really cool week, rubbing shoulders with people like the PM, Saudi crown prince, ministers from all over the place and looking at the cutting age planes. My only regret: no money to buy the ferrari jet.....

fab feb

I wouldn't say the lunar new year flashed by. more like the drudgery of visiting slows things down a little.

reunion dinner was at east coast seafood centre and THAT was a rush. we expected this but telling us that they will serve us on time when all have not arrived was not pleasant, to say the least. a few beers was all it took to get the heat out though. heh.

it was also good that CNY falls so perfectly that we have sat and sun to play around with. parents went to genting so me and dear took the opportunity to ride to malacca for beers, cendol and food. The budget hotel we stayed wasn't fantastic but i'm glad we found another cool looking budget hotel this time round. Will definitely be staying that the next time round. (click on the pics to get them bigger)

a packed jonker street for the new year!

crazy queue for cendol at that "famous" stall

jonker was ridiculously packed - the riceball place also jammed with pple and the pasar malam pple put out their stalls earlier than usual, causing even more jam, so.....

out to paradise seafood for westerns and more hoegaarden and....


Franziskaner wheat beer!!

the setting is set...


for my bratwurst!

Valentine's was a little different this year. got some flowers last year and they cost a bomb, all because of some very efficient marketing of this "special day". So I did the next best thing: boycott!! and went to search the internet on how to make paper roses..hahah..cheapskate!

the kawasaki rose in my hands - i intended to make it into a bouquet, but I dun have paper to wrap the bottom around in...so....

found a heart shaped box that dear gave me some time back...and with the help of some floral foam..voila!

view from the top

all I spent on was the pink paper. my mum had floral arrangement foam, I use my mum's wire hangars for the stems (all cut up of course), red ribbon from ikea for wrapping the stems and a heart shaped box I received from dear a few years back! and I still have spare hangars....

magnificento!

memories

just read my post back in 2005.

the one where I wrote abt benny, who died on 25th Mar 2005. Again, tears welled up and disappeared.

It would be much better if these guys were here with us...

one loss is one too many..

As my circle of friends widen, so do some who will leave us permanently. A rider whom I grew to listen and respect, not only for his rides, but for his very tenacity in life. Despite the pain, he still rides when the chemo doesn't hurt and I harboured hopes he can fully recover. But it was not to be......mine and Kruzer's memoriam for him:

In Memoriam:
Bahati Bin HJ Md Noor
"Bat"
(1956-2008)

A zest for living must include a willingness to die - R.A. Heinlein

There was never a person I’ve seen who loves his riding more. Even in the last weeks of his fragile life, my brief conversation with Bat was only filled with his metal machines and how one should treat them. With love and respect.

A Kruzer to his very end, Bat had left behind his beloved family and hordes of Kruzer who still have yet to imbue with his enthusiasm. For those who have known him, they remember an approachable, fatherly figure who dispenses motorcycle advice with a feverish panache.

Despite the pain his treatment administered, he persevered and manages to meet up with the Kruzer fraternity when he feels fit to do so. In defiance of his crumbling body, he also inhales the fresh winds that only riding at night can provide.

Bat’s zest for living, and indeed for his rides, has never faded even in his last breath. I’m pretty sure that Bat has lived the life he had most wanted and would gladly do it again in a painless world.

Rest in Peace.