2 short trips coming up. ..

Just paid for 2 trips today, one for Phuket and the other for Hong Kong. Woot! It is going to be a tight Oct, with me flying off to Phuket from 4th to 8th, for a day's dive and 3 days of lazing in the sun, snorkelling etc with Yongxi, kaixin and melvin (navy friend).

Before that, will be meeting up with officers from RSS Vengeance (93) on Tues evening(#3), and very grateful to huey wen for helping out in arranging the meet up. It has been a year since we last met, i think. From what i heard, Giam already a full COL, with the rest either 2 crabs or 1 crab, and 2 CPTs i think.. hmmm.. think they are getting crabby, that's why. Well, in theory, i would be one crab by now if i didn't retire then. heh. Time flies.

As for second trip in Oct, will be to Hong Kong with my mom and girlfriend. It will be my first time to Hong Kong, for my mom too, but Wheng would be more experienced as it would be her 3rd time. Haven't told her that we actually have 30kg worth of FREE excess baggage back..... cos it may be damaging to my bank account. Oh well, will probably tell her when i deem it is the correct time to say so. Heh. =P

Just back from Fong Seng's birthday BBQ at east coast. It has been ages since i last went there for BBQ. Last time was like, 10 years ago? hmmm... His mom cooks fantastic bee hoon, and the meat were very well marinated. So it was good food (#1), chatted and also met new friends (#2). Or rather, finally get to know the names of some MAE people. heh =D

Well, as for why the sudden flurry of trips....the reason will be out soon, cos now is still not the right time to tell. =P

Carbon fibre laying - my first time + meeting Gouramians

Met up with team Singapore Gouramians on Monday night for dinner, but only 3 of us turned up and had delicious thai food at Marina Square (Thai Express). My first time there, not crowded, nice tom yam and curry. The fried squid were fantastic too. Due to various circumstances, only Jenny, Jay and myself were there, nonetheless, it was good food and even better company. =D Chatted about school, stuff and of course, Gourami gossips and the long wait for the answer. =P Looking forward to Reiko's birthday, so we can meet up again. heh. =)

On tuesday, went down to school and we epoxied the 3rd layer of carbon fibre and also the cross-bracing test ribs for the front part. Hopefully it will provide sufficient rigidity to the top shell and thus settle the learning curve for carbon fibre laying. heh. Oh... and handed down instructions for the equipment and stuff in the wind tunnel lab, as well as explained as much as possible. Hopefully, all will go well. Time to type all available contacts and procedures to be handed down... probably tomorrow. heh.

Mid autumn festival at Chinese Gardens

Went to the Chinese gardens on Sunday evening after we realised that my dad could not get back in time for us to use the car on Sat. So spent the evening playing mahjong of which i lost $32 after 2 rounds. Thankfully, i fought back on the very last game with a 5 'fan' win and recouped $40. =D

So.. it was a trip to the gardens for a stroll and it is about a 40 minutes drive to that place at Yuen Ching road,i think. Had a wonderful evening with my mom, girlfriend, bro, sis-in-law as we strolled about, admiring the lanterns and chatting away.

We reached just after sunset and at first, the entrance fee of $12 was a bit too hefty in my view, nonetheless, it was all worth it as we were treated to a fantastic performance by a troupe from Sichuan on acrobatic acts, fire-breathing and face changing (變臉). Trying to embed it in my blog, if successful, hope all will enjoy it. Still very amazed at how he would be able to change it instantaneously and i was staring at him all the time. One minute of performance would have required 20 over years of training.

The face changing master was extraordinarily quick with the change. And after some changes on stage, he came down to the audience where he dazzled everyone by shaking hands and changing his 'face' instantaneously without warning. The following clip is while he is on stage.



After the face changing master, is the fire breathing master. Amazed that this guy can hold so much kerosene? or any other fuel inside his mouth or, i dont know where. heh. A handy man to have when having BBQ, that is for sure. the conversation would probably go like this:

me: 'hi, could u toast this mash mellow for me pls?'
fire breathing guy: 'sure! Booooooooooooooo!'
me: 'wah... think you BBQ-ed my hand too!! AAAHHHH!'

Except that the food will be spluttered with his saliva too ..... bleah! =P

Handing over, for the next lap

Would be handing over the solar car project during the next few weeks to the next team, starting tomorrow. i guess. Still have loads on my mind, and also possible design modifications or upgrades and major overhaul to our current design so that the new design will be able to conform to new rules and regulations for the South African solar car challenge.

Think handing over will be a challenge in itself as i have to ensure that it is done properly, to the best of my ability , to pass on as much knowledge as possible to the next team. Guess i will have to start typing and listing out exactly what challenges we faced and the steps we took to overcome it etc. So that hopefully the team will not have to undergo the same problems and thus will proceed with design faster and with less iterations. The tricky part is, how do i come out with that, when the design process would be different for different people? Even with only the 3 of us, yx, kx and myself, solutions that we came up with differs in concept but they all gets the job done. Should i focus instead on typing out the possible considerations that should be looked into at different phases of the project development so that the team need not back track?

i guess i would have to check in with the beloved butler on this, and to trust the next project leader on this vision and awareness of what would be required and anticipate rather than fire-fight. Especially since due to the late payment of critical parts, we were left with fire fighting with little time for anything else. And in our case, it was fighting a godzilla-sized blaze with a standard-sized SAF issued green mug in hand, and the water source is a twenty cent coin-sized puddle on the ground (of which dengue-stained mosquitoes would breed and kill the rest of the humans not burnt to toast by the fire).

So, the aim for me now is to do a proper handover and also maybe complete the battery box that could be used for the 'next generation' solar car within the next few weeks. =P

Its back to normal...=/

Settling back to normal life as the dream of Gourami starts to fade in the glare of everyday life. Slowly getting ready for the next phase in life, to start out in a new career. Having reached as far as i could for the solar car project(#1), i hope that the new solar car team will be able to build on our success so far, and proceed on to a solar car race next year.

It was a dream at first, and it is half-way to reality as we have almost all the parts here but too little time. Thus it is but a castle built in the air. But i think this castle of ours is viable as the next batch or the batch after next will be able to build the foundation under it.

Surprisingly, i did not feel as disappointed as i would expect myself to be. After all, i did put in the best of my efforts into the solar car project, and at the same time had a great work (project in this case) life balance(#2). Too bad the free trip to Australia didn't materialise, nonetheless, i had learnt quite a bit and not to mention had fun with yongxi, kaixin, butler and john during this period of time. And it would be a memory and friendship which i will treasure for life(#3).

As for today, popped over to yongxi's ktv for a look and jio him for dinner as he was helping out his parents at the ktv. Instead, we sang from 7 plus till 850 before heading out to AMK for dinner. First time at the new AMK hub, quite new (obviously), but didnt shop. Ate at the S11 kopitiam outside AMK hub instead. heh. chatted for quite a bit before heading home.

After my bro's wedding dinner...

Just had my bath. A pretty tiring day out for me, having only took an hour's nap in the afternoon. It was more of coordination during the dinner, taking notes of this and that, chatting with relatives and friends. I guess having a big family = lots of catching up, 10 aunts and an uncle from paternal side, an aunt and 4 uncles from maternal side plus many cousins and nephews and nieces too. About 11 tables for relatives and not all the kids came along.

It was a cosy and fun affair though. =) as all were family, with close friends. So it was walk, chat, organise, check the amount of wine and liquor left etc. And i was the emcee of the night.

Actually, am waiting for my hair to dry somewhat before i sleep, but i do feel that wedding dinners are a good time to get together and have some laughter. Many are asking about when will it be my turn, of which i replied rather candidly: 'not in the near future' =P

Wedding morning...

Woke up early this morning at 445am to collect the bridal car from my friend's condo, a VW beetle with a pair of cute teddy bears in front. Pictures are not up yet, but it looks very nice. Drove back home and together with my brother and gang went to pick up my sis-in-law.

After some fun and games, finally got back home at 720 for ceremonial rites. Rather tired, and before having breakfast, it was more driving to send bride maids back and stuff. just got back and its now 6 minutes past 10am. Really sleepy already, but everyone is asleep, thus i have to keep awake cos relatives will be coming soon. =P

So posting up more photos of Gourami..... to stay awake. xP

Busy preparing for my brother's wedding on Sun

Spent yesterday and looks like today helping out in wedding preparations(#1). Doing this and that, but finding time to to do up the pictures for the gourami experience.

My flat has become a busy meeting place, with relatives poping over to send their congrats etc, and sharing of stories and catching up with one another. Definitely a joyous occasion and it seems that wedding preparations do take quite a bit of effort. But i guess it would be fond memories for all involved (#2), especially for my bro and sis-in-law, in later years.

Feel older now, more so after the Gourami experience, where it would be a good guess that i am the oldest of all participants(which accounts for the slight advantage i feel that i have over others...the 4-9 extra years of experience as the youngest is only 19 or 16? hmmm). Well, i felt young again then when i was mixing with everyone there, with their fully charged energy of youth and fun. Back to reality, did discover that other than being slightly older, i do have a more conservative or traditional character. Nonetheless, very glad that the gouramians had taken me in stride and walked side by side(#3).

Its a mixture of feelings for me, all in the mix includes: the excitement of my brother's wedding, the disappointment that we probably will not make it to WSC but we will still be completing the solar car as much as possible and finally and some what occupying my mind most of the time, the wait for an answer from Shell, of which i hope will be a positive one. =P

Some more of day 1 and day 2 at Gourami!

Leached off some photos from Jay and Rachelle's picasa as i didn't have my cam all the time. Thus found the photo we took at Changi airport before the flight to Penang, the six of us, all looking fresh and ready for the challenge ahead.



A picture of me from an angle which I never saw myself from. Interestingly, would i recognise myself from that angle? hmm..

Anyway, after the 1st day's treasure hunt, it was BBQ night! And being Singaporean and within my context, i was thinking that it will be BBQing by us! A DIY process, and thus i wore pretty shabbily, expecting to get sweaty and stuff. To my pleasant surprise, there were chefs BBQing and preparing the food for us. Apparently, not only i had the idea that we will be hands-on for the BBQ, cos Reiko was also wearing shabby clothes, expecting to get dirty. We had a good laugh over that though. =D
The food was fantastic and a sample of 50% of what's available was taken by Jay. I had quite a few helpings of satay, prawns and salmon. =P

For the second day, it was the start of the Gourami proper, with briefings in the morning and start of assessments at 1430. Attached to all teams was a coach and there are several floating assessors about. All the books we would need is located at the 'library' found along the corridor and our rooms are actually quite cosy, with everything we need.

The first day was spent trying to make sense of the information on the oil/gas reservoirs, the section views and stuff. Thank goodness we have Amirool, Naza and Lai, who spent time teaching us on what they are about and how to interpret the data. Help was on hand by our coach, Ronald and the lead coach for both EP North and South, Alan.



After a day of preparing for watershed meeting on day 3 morning, we were taken to this chinese mansion for dinner and also some activities inside. Got to know of this a little late, thus chanced upon the fortune telling table where a master is using cards, palmistry and face analysis to tell ones fortune. I was the interpretor when required and also had my fortunes read, to which i felt it was rather accurate. =P

Soon it was back to hotel and this time i sat in front, thus got a shot of the babes and hunks behind. =D

To be continued.....

Need more photos for Gourami updates + Earthquake!

Today was back to work on the solar car project. But as i left for school at 740, i felt the building shaking as an earthquake hit Indonesia, and the tremors were transmitted to here. An exciting feeling actually, cos it would be my first time actually feeling it. Can even observe the neighbour's aircon unit, which is mounted to the ceiling, swaying from side to side.

Stupidly took the lift down, which was also swaying, and i realised that it might be a tad bit safer to walk down the stairs. =P Luckily all was fine (#1) and i could not feel anything once i reached the ground floor. Well... it would mean that the tremors were magnified at higher levels.

Went off to school and met kx and yx for breakfast. Couldn't find Butler and later found out he was sick and thus not around. Looks like with all the delays, the chances of making it to WSC is getting real slim now.

Played pool in the evening (#2)and it was to wheng's place to help settle my bro's wedding photo montage(#3). =P Still thinking of the fun and intense days at Gourami. An experience of a lifetime. =D

Hopefully i can get some photos from others from days 2-4, so i can have some photos together with my postings on Gourami. Nonetheless, will go ahead with posting once i have time, before i start to forget. heh.

Day 1 of Gourami.... 6/9/07

Woke up early at 5am on Thursday to iron the long-sleeve shirts i bought the NIGHT before and washed it once they were brought home. Last minute shopping at G2000 as 2 sets of formal clothes were required, and i only had one purple long-sleeve shirt which was 2+ years old liao.

Reached the airport at 615, met up with the rest (more photos with their digi cam)and it was off to Penang!



Jay, Reiko and Ling sat together while Jenny and Winnie was an aisle apart. sat one row in front and after some photo-taking, took some time off to play my childhood game... the mario bros. The flight was super fast, after we leveled off, food was served and we received the announcement that we are descending to Penang! i was only in stage 2 of the game.... The view before landing was incredible as i saw the beach race up towards us and we landed no long after passing the beach. Neat!



After taking photo at Penang airport, it was on the bus and to the hotel... or resort actually. And yes.. it was a resort alright. Lazed in the room while waiting for lunch to happen and also for the Gourami Challenge to start.

For the 1st day, it was just introduction and a game of treasure hunt for the 40 over strangers to know each other. We also got to know more about Gourami and the people in Shell. Was still wondering what to expect, but looking at the participants, it seems like its going to be a fun time!

Stay tuned for day 2! .. to be update once i arranged the photos!

Back from the Gourami Business Challenge!

From my last post, it was a busy day before i flew off to Penang, Malaysia, with not much preparation and also had no idea of what to expect there. Met up with 5 other from team singapore at the changi airport as the 7th member flew to Penang from Hong Kong.

In short, it was a fun-filled, action-packed, with tons of knowledge and stress compressed into 5 full days. I was assigned to a team of 10 (including me) to develop a business plan for the oil (Swordtail n Minnow)and gas fields (Guppy, tetra and Marlin)located in the South of the imaginary state of Gourami (see below).



We are known as EPSouth, multi-national team with wonderful people (#1)from Malaysia, China, India and of course, Singapore. Within 3 days, we came up with business plans, with calculations of Capex, no. of barrels/day, NPV, payback, VIR etc etc for the development of EPSouth. Most importantly, I made many wonderful new friends from different countries(#2). =D

With the enthusiasm of Queen Zee, the team won the Tidy room of the Week Award and everyone was presented with a card as shown. I placed it in the hands of my cute companions beside my com.



After the final presentation, it was fun and laughter at the party on the last night at Gourami (#3) before the interview on the last day and subsequently the super short flight back to Singapore. I already miss the people at Gourami liao. =P

As i sit here and ponder back, it was a surreal experience where 40 over total strangers had teamed up, faced challenges together, had fun together, ate together and came up with a 'viable' (we never did get to know the results) business plan in such a short time. Definitely wish that i had more time to know more about everybody. Nonetheless, if the people in Shell are of this range of personality and character where everyone worked hard and played hard plus most importantly, with a fun but serious work culture, i want in! =D I guess it will be up to the assessors, coaches and HR people to decide on that liao.

Will add in more details of my days in Gourami later on. Slept till 11 today.. wanted to go school for the solar car, but getting tired out liao. Need to recover some sleep as i had slept only 5~6 hours every night at Penang. =/

All things have to happen at the same time.. xP

Been very busy for the past 2 days, with the steel tubings arriving on Mon, followed by the steel plate on Tues and carbon fibre this morning (#1). It is crunch time and i have to fly off tomorrow morning to Penang for the Shell Gourami Business Challenge(#2), which is an exciting event, but unfortunately, with the materials arriving, it is an exciting time at school too.

While i am away, yongxi will step up and manage the project, hopefully, by the time i come back, he can run the show liao. It will gonna to be tight as we aim to give it a test run by 24th Sep.

Received the pre-reading materials for the challenge yesterday and it is quite comprehensive and detailed. Wonder how it would be like and the friends i will be making there, not to mention, hopefully it will be a fun time there too!(#3)Going to be myself there and just enjoy the trip, just hope that the Shell assessors will find that i have the Shell personnel 'fit'. IT will be a good chance to meet the Shell people and get a feel of how how the work environment will be like. =P

Weak, i am. Strong, i must become.

After 2 days of fever, i finally when to visit the Doctor (must have missed a few days of appples, that's why =P). From the doc, it may be possible that it started out from a viral infection aka. cold/flu, to be a bacteria infection. Was finally okay by yesterday evening. =) But still have to complete the course of antibiotics.

Things over at school is still slow, with nothing done this week as materials are not in yet. Faced with the possibility that yx will not be able to help out as much is a big blow to the project, coupled with me having to proceed for the Shell Gourami Challenge, odds are stretched rather thin, not to mention manpower. =/

Planning as much as i can now for the next few week, which are pretty crucial. But i guess by Sep 20, the answer to whether we can proceed for WSC in Australia will be pretty obvious. Nonetheless, still learnt a lot during this period of time, not to mention strengthening valuable friendships and having a good time. =D This doesn't mean that i will be giving up on the idea of going for WSC though. Will push ahead until the very last second, even extend the deadline if possible. At most, the logistics company will hate my guts.... =P