its the 28th day of feb. i've been stationed in Naval Air Station Pensacola for 323 days. time flies huh? and exactly a year ago, i was still the ag1 of 6th Division. and the year before, i was a young 2nd LT in OCS. a year before, a chao recruit in BMTC. another year before.. the year before.. you know what i really miss? i really miss band. i miss those days where we would sit together and make music. i miss going over to dover market for lunch on saturdays.. and playing soccer till the late afternoon after band practice. i miss going back to fmss in the evening and hanging out with fellow bandsmen, supper at crystal jade. watching garrie kick the stupid soccer ball and breaking the window on the 1st level below the band room at the holding school. listening to casey and aaron argue over just about anything and then laughing at them. how October made us wet our pants, and how the esplanade resounded with our passion and journey. i miss those days.

chiyu

this is sad.. no scuba again this weekend.. stupid weather.. really eager to do some cold water diving and to test my u/w camera housing and my dive computer.. landed at about 8pm last night.. 1st leg out was riding a comp5x out to chattanooga, tennessee.. twas an awesome ride though the turbulence was much to be desired.. valley dodging at 500ft was a real eye opener.. took the high route back via meridian, mississippi for the PAR back at Navy Pensacola. good flight all in all.. not scheduled on sat, sun and monday.. 3 day weekend for me.. but sadly.. no scuba.. sigh.. oh well.. looks like i'll be spending that time working on my low level charts.. and maybe start on my strike charts.. why no scuba??? stupid weather.

chiyu

i finally received the stuffs i ordered online.. the digicam housing.. http://www.fantasea.com/product_details.asp?id=221
my 1st dive computer..
http://www.mares.com/product_detail.php?id=72&region=USA
was supposed to go scuba on sunday.. but sadly, the weather wasn't good so twas cancelled.. disappointing.. but.. oh well.. looking forward to testing my new equipment(s).. back to work after the long president's day weekend.. sucks but.. in order to attain my wings of gold, work must be done.. rumour has it that some of us wso ftrs in pensacola would be heading straight to idaho to convert to the F-15SG after our course.. not sure how true that is but.. i'd definitely want in.. even if it means i'll have to stay in the states for another half a year (there about i guess).. fingers crossed.. out and in to randolph air force base in texas tml.. hope it turns out to be another uneventful flight (uneventful is good).. till next time..

chiyu

having my RST-0 tml.. my 1st 'flight event' in vt-86.. and the year.. shouldn't be too bad.. life is real different in 86.. nothing's clear to me anymore.. there's always doubt when it comes to SOPs, rules and regulations (relating to flight that is), comms, briefs, procedures.. but i guess the only way things will work out is through time and further experience in the squadron.. trying to get a cross country to New York or Denver or something.. somewhere interesting.. maybe over the presidents' day weekend.. just a random thought.. about not only how i've changed, but how my environment and life's changed.. lets start with a nice 'cardinal' number.. 10 years ago..

1997: 12 year old kid coping with PSLE.. it wasn't a scarring event but vivid nonetheless.. i remember supplementary classes on friday afternoons, before which we would head over to the secondary school for 'western' lunch prior to class.. i remember band practices.. and camps.. friends that are so dear to me (you guys know who you are).. arguing over what aircraft the air force should purchase, concluding that pratt and whitney made the best aircraft engines in the world (hey.. we were young and ignorant)..

1998: coping with teenage life and trying hard to survive in a totally new environment (namely school).. i remember the 1st day of school.. a sad sad day.. but us sec 1 students were not too sure about what was going on.. twas our 1st day of school.. also the 1st day of school after the silkair MI185 crash where 3 of our school teachers perished.. lots of tears (from those who knew them), lots of confused students (the freshies).. band was a blast.. but the highlight of the year, our 110th anniversary performance at kallang.. countless rehearsals, friendship forged, these memories will always cherish..

1999: doing badly in school.. always hovering about at the bottom of the class.. mom was concerned.. very.. i was still heavily involved with various activities in school.. experienced my 1st taste of bgr (in a very weird sense).. if it were to be made into a movie, it'll be a very sweet one(more so due to the almost child like innocence)..

2000: 3rd year in secondary school.. its the year 2000! how exciting.. decided that i should stop being a bottom feeder and start working hard (harder) academically wise.. work paid off and i managed to move up the 'pecking order'.. transited to wearing pants as compared to shorts in school.. flew for the 1st time.. to thailand in march and new zealand in june.. this must be one of the happiest year of my life.. doing alright in school, friends were great, 2 overseas school trips in a year! what more can a 15 year old ask for.. sure precious memories!

2001: O levels.. another giant to slay.. 16 year old, raring to go.. visited sabah for a geography trip.. unforgettable.. kota kinabalu, kinabalu national park, keningnau, tuaran river.. tried to study hard (but procrastination got the better of my as usual).. did badly for my prelims.. all 25 points of it.. put in a tad more effort and squeezed a 14 for my Os..

2002: spent the 1st 3 months in JI.. boy did i have a blast! skipping classes, going for movies in our various school uniforms.. orientation was really fun.. put in 100% in class (those that i didn't skip).. well actually, i only started skipping classes when my O level results came out and that i was sure i wasn't going to stay in JI for the next couple of years.. moved on to JJC.. life in jj was a blur to me.. got attached really early into my new school (like 2 weeks?).. which turned out to be a bad thing in the end since i really neglected my friends in college.. (sorry all) i wish i could have been much closer to them.. i guess that probably explains why i don't have many friends from college..

2003: the A levels was a pain in the butt.. juggling the management of the college band, relationships, studies.. one big swirl.. and of course the painful breakup which affected me much for a couple of months.. i grew up this year.. i look at the world differently.. i wasn't the happy-go-lucky chiyu i once was when i was younger.. i was still a happy lad.. but not the oblivious kid i left behind.. i entered national service at the end of the year..

2004: life in the army.. it was tough.. but looking back, i was all worth it.. i put in 100% in bmt, putting my all in all tasks, be it weapons training or PT.. graduated as platoon best/company 2nd after those 16 weeks (i was from PTP).. got picked up for ocs and pressed on.. CRMA exchange (thailand), exercise starlight (taiwan), jungle confidence course, some of the most memorable events in my military career.. receiving that badge at the end of jcc.. feels almost as good as getting my bar on the shoulder..

2005: got my commission in jan, felt what it was like to love and lose again, another year in ocs, doing all kinds of things.. from filing paperwork to platoon assualt courses to live firing.. opened up a new horizon for me.. found my 1 true love.. scuba.. got my license in june and never looked back.. i decided for sure that i do not want a desk job in future.. after years of waiting (since 2003), the airforce finally got back to me about the application i put through in late 2003.. left ocs for air force school in december.. good times.. good times..

2006: off to tamworth, australia for airgrading.. i was a pilot trainee! but i flunked out.. for the very 1st time, i felt how i was like to see your dreams crash and collapse in front of you.. it didn't taste good.. there were tears (some).. but its funny how things work out in the end.. i came back to singapore and spent a couple of weeks in air force school.. doing.. nothing at all.. was posted to HQ 6 div as the assistant G1 to serve off the last 3 months of my national service.. life wasn't all that bad there.. not great.. but not bad either.. got a call from the recruitment centre.. they needed an officer who've gone through airgrading to head over to pensacola for flight training.. not as a pilot.. but as a wso (ftr).. i jumped on it.. as long as i can fly.. this also means if i get through this, i'm just about guaranteed a seat in the F-16.. i haven't regretted that decision (well not yet at least)..

present: over half way through flight school with the US Navy.. how many pple get such an opportunity.. i am thankful that i was presented this chance.. from a dumb kid to an aviator (and airhead).. life works in mysterious ways.. who'd ever predict that..

RST-0, here i come.

chiyu

random pics again~




rice tower and chinese takeout box.. how come i've never seen this kind of packaging in singapore??




my work table.. funny thing is, i never ever work on this table (not that i do alot of work~ haha).. except when working on the laptop.. usb printer (HP) underneath.. bought that for $30 from walmart.. pretty decent.. and yes, this was taken after spring cleaning/packing..




my babies!! 2 quiksilver rashguards, ralftech wing power 3/2mm wetsuit, scubapro jetfins, tigullio bright with ralftech mask strap, unidive snorkel, ralftech shield power booties, camaro dive gloves, prodive smb, zeagle scout bcd (dive knife, board/pencil, dogtag, whistle, hose manager, octopus holder attached..)

chiyu

flight school has enough work in itself to keep me sufficiently busy, even on the weekends.. clock simulator hours, doing up charts, classes, studying for this week's test etc.. and it gets alot worst when you have a seemingly unquenchable about of random administrative chores/errands to run on top of all that work.. what's most annoying is, these random tasks distracts me, greatly.. so much so that even as i turn in at night, i'll be jolted wide awake by thoughts of/worrying about these errands.. you know.. that feeling of unease.. but alas, i can only blame myself for procrastinating.. i could have done all these earlier, when i had more time but no.. i had to procrastinate.. procrastination's my biggest weakness and problem.. always waiting till the last minute when i absolutely have to complete these tasks.. so this is my 'new month's' resolution..

studies have shown that 'people who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions.'

The following shows how many of these resolutions are maintained as time goes on:

past the first week: 75%
past 2 weeks: 71%
after one month: 64%
after 6 months: 46%

(thanks wikipedia)

i do hope i at least make the 46%.. so.. less stoning for me.. and more working..

chiyu