reflections 1

overall, my ns experience was useful: i learnt many things about leadership, diligence/hard work and appreciating friends. but these are lessons that i would have learnt anyway, and given the choice i would not serve these 2 years; they are much better spent doing other things (unless some favourable changes are made, such as the option to choose where you want to serve)

inefficiency
one of the things i learnt about a secure organization is that safety and security are on the opposite side of the see-saw from efficiency. to get a simple job done, there is a long string of processes in order to approve, organise and perform the job. in some ways this is much like the swiss cheese model which i learnt about in 'human factors'. where every layer of 'defense' has a hole, and the more layers you have the better because the holes won't line up and you cannot pass through it.

the army is comprised of four general groups of people:
the regulars who love the army
these are the people who sign on to serve the army full time because they love it. they love soldiering, they love defending their country, they love leading men and inspiring them to do so too. the army is built on these people.

the regulars who didnt have any other choice
these are the people who sign on because the pay is good, and/or their educational qualifications aren't too good (and they don't wish to study), and/or they are lazy people who want to earn a decent salary while doing nothing. these are the people that make the army a pitiful place to be, especially if you are the first type of person, or the third:

the NSFs who give their best
to these people, NS is an opportunity to learn, to gain experience, and to be prepared for working life. these are also the people who have an idea of what they would like to serve as in NS, but of course, as life would have it, never get it. but still they work hard; these are the people that make NS work, along with category 1. I used to be this person, but after realising (after like 1 and a half years) that people in cat 2 exist, i became

the NSFs who dont give a shit and just want to be done with it
dont get me wrong, everyone wants to get it done and over with, but these are the people who drag their feet on the way there, making everything difficult for everyone, complaining about everything, and doing nothing. (much akin to how the press thinks it can be a better president of the US). these are the people who are at the bottom of the food chain later in life, so i dont give a shit.

thus concludes part 1 :)

reflections on ns

i've been thinking about what NS means to me, what it has done to me, and what difference it has made in my life, good or bad. more later.

meanwhile i feel contrained by my laptop. small screen, puny keyboard and an irritating as ass mouse.

oh, and vista is the testicles of a shitzu. it completely sucks, and is as slow as can be. takes me 2 minutes to start up, even after i deleted all the junkshit and deleted alot of startup services.

windows 7 please come faster!

big week!

this week has been a big big week!

i bought a laptop (acer) which doesnt want to recognise my graphics card (cos i reinstalled everything, i dont trust OEM crap). i originally wanted to port to XP only but it seems to be too much of a problem with my gfx card, so now i just installed vista and trimmed it down alot. like alot. its now running twice as fast as before the crap.

then there's my camera! which lala bought for me :) panasonic lumix lz8! i LOVE it. its so crystal clear i could take a picture of my face and brush teeth, pop pimples and floss from that picture.

just so we can photodate when im in AU! SHES SO AWESOME RIGHT.

best girlfriend ever.

oh and i checked out FCBC today, by God's provision delirious was there leading worship! awesome stuff, God really used them to minister to me. i wish angela was there though, to enjoy it with me and maybe she'll find that she likes that church. -shrug-

photoblog

im looking forward to starting to blog in photos :)

off to brissy!

i'll be going with my sister to brissy, leaving on the 2nd of july :) gonna do some half touristy stuff, the other half settling down. i hope i can find accomodation within 2 weeks.

in any case, things are falling into place, bought the tickets, eyeing a laptop (prolly buying next week) and gonna set up skype and all. i hope i dont overwork my laptop too fast though. heh.

i also realise i'm not a power nap person. i took a quick nap at 4, set my alarm at 5; woke up at 6.30 after alot of snoozing and groaning.