This week has been a pretty interesting week for me! well to start things off, the only highlight for this week was friday :) best day ever. you know when you are in NS and you are stuck in camp, there are LOADS of things that you cant do aaaand about my knee? it doesnt look too good. Dont know if i mentioned this before, but according to the doc, given my condition now, he thinks my injury MIGHT become PERMANENT. NUUUUUUU that's like the last thing that can possibly ever happen to me! (i hope) Its like i always ran so much, did so many activities and there are sooo much more that i wanna do.. cant even stand for too long or walk too far. now i totally understand how important my legs are :P

lets talk about today first, before i tell ya more about friday! today was the first time i actually got to drive out of the driving school onto the roads! its like FINALLY out of the circuit! uber happy to finally "roam free". of course i was always guided by my instructor....like turn left here, go straight, etc etc so it was like i didnt even know where i was! all i did was focus on the road condition. okay to me, driving is fine, absolutely fine. its pretty fun sometimes! but driving to a location just seems WEIRD. it seems so different from driving without an aim. well i guess that's how life works too! =D *lightbulb!* life also seems so different when one gains a certain purpose or direction! i was just wondering, how my life would be like in the future! hahaha oh i so remember the  instructor telling me to slow down and watch the speed limit today :P max i can go is 50km/h? when my parents drive at 40, the car is like crawling but when i drive at 40, it feels pretty fast! well i guess its because i have been to used to driving 20-ish in the circuit. what i find strange is that i love driving lessons! but i hate it when its like 2-4 hours to the start of the lesson because i feel so restricted! and because  of the driving lesson, i cant possibly plan any outings with friends or whatsoever in the afternoon! FYI my driving lessons are around afternoon timings. 12-2 ish timeslots. apparently my parents dont get it =.=

OKAY OKAY LETS TALKABOUT FLYDAY.
oh wait, you can choose to listen to me playing the piano! i recorded this today at one go,  one song, one take, no editing, just plain raw :D

that's Pachabel's Canon in C


and/or

River Flows in You (this one sounds kinda horrible, definitely gonna brush up)


friday was soooo awesome! i think a timeline structure would be sooo much clearer here.
this is what happened:
some background info, on friday, we had live firing, so i was supposed to go too, but as a sentry (since im like handicapped)
so....
1. woke up at about 5am to take breakfast in camp (that's normal)
2. 5 of us had to go to another camp later that day (me too!), so nope i didnt leave with the rest.
3. because almost everyone left, i got to sleep till 8am+!!! (that's a miracle in the army)
4. went to the office, did some clerk work from 9-10.30am
5. 11am? BOOKED OUT to head to signals institute!
6. Ate KFC.
7. went to signals camp and i managed to get into signals course for PES C! (YES YES YES YES finally i get to go for the signals course!! hoping that after that, i dont have to return to 30SCE :P) life is way better outside 30 sce man.
8. got to visit PJC! my formal school T.T finally....the long wait ever since teacher's day...i was stuck in camp during teachers day and that sucked.
9. Saw my wonderful GP teacher who is still just as bald as ever xD and i met my PE teacher who kindly advised me on my injured knee! he saw similar injuries before and thinks its way worse than what the doctor diagnosed. I NEED A DOCTOR
10. Since i was out of camp at such an early time, i managed to take a good long bus ride home. i miss those bus rides that i used to take. i stopped taking the bus ever since it got near to the A levels like about 5 months before the A levels as i was busy mugging in school till late at night, and dad would pick me up! before that, time didnt seem so precious then.
11. GOT TO GO CELL GROUP! and it was such a wonderful time as it was also a combined cell group. awesome awesome friday :)

hah its been so long since i attended prayer meeting! as in yes we do have it before every service on sunday, but going to church specifically for praying for a prolonged period is different! I really really love prayer meetings, because that's where you get people who are really keen to pray, gathered together in prayer! absolutely awesome time of devotion~ not saying that those who are not as "spiritual" or "fervent" don't come for such meetings, just that it is highly likely that those who came actually has such traits. just a random thought.. i wonder which other guys in the universe still blogs!! coming back to prayer meeting, it felt so gooood just to keep praying and praying and praying. In this ever-changing, rapid lifestyle in our world today, we definitely need some time to 'cool-down' i believe. Don't know about ya, but i prefer to allow my life to come to a total stop: either just standing or sitting there praying or just sitting on the couch doing absolutely nothing. just nothing. Those who have yet to try doing nothing, you should totally try it :P i personally find it very relaxing. even lying down on the grass pasture and just looking up can be so relaxing. Well praying isnt just about my life coming to a stop. Moreover, its also about being inthe presence of the Lord. Christians will know what i am talking about :) feeling all so assured and coming to the place that you feel so comfortable so at home. Its a spiritual thing =)

hmmm AHM.... it stands for Army Half Marathon! frankly speaking, this is the first time i actually heard of such a marathon in singapore! all these years that i have been staying here...and yet i have never heard of it! well as the title implies, its a run for army personnel..well of course the public isnt left out! the run is 5km long, however due to my injury, i couldnt participate! i have always wanted to run along the city area but sigh! doing in on a typical day would make me look like an awkward fool and just when i have the chance to, i am injured -.- seriously luck seems to be REALLY scared of me for this year! but nevertheless, that's life! its always filled with ups and downs :) hah the most vivid memory i have of that event is the morning trip there. man i slept super duper late for the previous night and i had to drag myself outta bed. i had to wear this red in colour, oversized singlet along with my short army PT pants along with the unmistakably familiar army asics  shoes. i had to take a train into the city and guess what! to my surprise, i boarded the train with loads of other people dressed the same! the funny thing is that we were nearly EXACTLY the same. not just in terms of our outfit, but also our faces - zombified...! everyone had the "why in the world am i awake at such an early time on a sunday morning....?"

well yesterday, my unit had live firing! to be exact, we did live mine arming. BUT as i am injured (nearly every single blog post always has this 'BUT as i am injured...' factor. tsk. ) i was appointed as a sentry instead. had to guard one of the entrance to prevent any unauthorized entry. i was kinda far away from the main body, but it was definitely close enough to feel all the explosions. basically they had to plant charges to blow up the mines that they had planted. I had company! one fellow 'handicapped' mate to join me :) so at least sentry duty didnt feel so boring! the last time i did duty, it took 10 long hours. this time, it was wayyyyy longer! but hey, i have a companion this time round and as usual, i brought a book to read. what i wasnt prepared for, was the mosquitoes!! oh i brought a new book to read, its called "thinking, slow and fast" MAN THAT BOOK SURE PUTS ME TO SLEEP! its like i will be thinking about what the nobel-peace prize winner author wrote and unknowingly i would doze off. its a really good book though, it helps you to understand how your mind works! okay getting back to those pesky mosquitoes. both my buddy and I killed  more than 25 mosquitoes by the end of our sentry duty, with our hands. gosh when we first entered, we were swarmed by them! oh oh the mosquitoes isnt the interesting part yet~ these mosquitoes are TALENTED. both of us humans were decked out in our uniform, covered from neck to toe. we had our helmets of course. oh but these commando mosquitoes are skilled enough to suck our blood through the uniform =.= SIGHHH worst part is that now that i am home, the bites are still itching! its like they leave this really long itch on your skin. tsk tsk pesky mosquitoes. sometimes i really wonder why God created them. oh and that goes for houseflies too. geez they better have some use! (hope they hold the key to cancer) thats like the only way they can atone for their sins for always irritating us! =P

now here comes the interesting part! both me and my buddy were left as sentries far away from the main body! so when they counted for strength while leaving, they actually forgot the 2 of us! we found that out only when we were on our way back as we didnt have a radio set with us. it was like only after a long time later after the last explosion was held did a rover drive to our location and pick us up! it was pretty hilarious when we were in the car too, as we were kinda lost in the live firing area? haha! the instructions was like "left left right left right" so it should be.... "right right left right" if we wanna exit. example example. then we later got really confused! kinda retarded but oh well at least it is because of such incidents that make army life more interesting!

yuppp! life for me is indeed getting better! maybe i have finally settled down into all the routines and expectations etc etc? well starting next saturday, i am going to start having practical lessons on driving! i dont even see the necessity of learning how to drive and owning a car...but ya know, forced into it by parents. -.- moreover, weekend leisure times are gonna be slashed all thanks to these lessons! :( sigh sigh.

good news? my leg injury seems to be getting better! as in its kinda complicated. after going for numerous physio sessions, my injury at the patellar tendon area for my knee is getting a whole lot better! ie, less painful but still, its totally impossible for me to kneel down on that knee. sharp pain still shoots up. due to compensation, top portion of my left knee cap now hurts! same for my right. oh well but i guess recovery takes time anyway~! its been over 2 months? gee i talked to the guy who helped me with my physio therapy and he also had the same condition, just that his took 2 YEARS and it has yet to be healed fully.. OH COME ON. i cant possibly not run, not jump, not do all those physical activities.

moving on from my injury...i think i am GETTING FATTER.

moving on from my getting fatter, life for me these days seems so lonely! its like last time i used to have so many friends to hang out with, so much socialising etc etc but now during NS? its like all i see is my fellow clerk (who is like me, a 'handicap') and just sergeants. i mean they are really friendly too, but its more like a 'working' relationship rather than friendship~ also, after being single for so long...its getting really dull. i so long to find that right partner! however, due to my plans for future studies in australia..i dont know how things are gonna turn out man~ i really dont. but still, i definitely do long for her to get closer!

hopefully one day, she does notice my liking towards her! wishful thinking of mine~ ;)

okokok so you guys must be wondering what lifelites is huh? well it is a website that sells LED lighting sets meant for LEGO! wohoo! i actually chanced upon it about a year back but i wasnt into the whole "online shopping" thing. i thought that it would such a hassle to shipover the items and waiting was just plain boring. oh but now that i am in NS, waiting is nothing since i spend all the weekdays in camp, so i dont feel the whole "waiting" process. sooo awesome but i would still rather not be in NS :D lets mooove on to what i did.

Of course, i used one of my own creations to test out the lightings! chose my most beloved lego creation, i call it Thor's Hammer :) i gave it that name after my imagination ran wild, thinking of it zoomng past and destroying everything in its small path~ *some star wars hyperspace jump imagination*

i never knew installing it would be so tedious! previously when i dfirst designed the model, i left huge spaces and 'slots' here and there so that my creation actually allowed upgrades done to it and BAM! this is the first! ;)


i had to dig out these lego parts so that they can fit snugly over the LED bulb! oh speaking about snug fitting, i won the big for the nerf gun and now i am getting ready to do all the intended mods! talk about hunting down all the parts....


this is the whole set that they mailed to me! cool thing is that there are some patterns and styles added into the electric board. so....you can use it to fit into a few surroundings!


i actually had this AMAZINGLY small compartment under the aircraft, so i decided to use that part to store 2 of those battery boxes! by the way, i bought the ones that use the CR1XXX DUNNO WHAT batteries. they are so much smaller and lighter. than the AAA batteries.


the wiring was a TOTAL pain. because i had to fit it in here and there...it was like trying to put a thread through the eye of a needle! zzzzz and after getting it all set up, then i realised that i did it in the wrong sequence. ran into soo much trouble because the ends of the wires are too big to pass through those technic holes! so its like 1 direction only and since i wanted to fit it into the bottom compartment, i had to weave it around in the right sequence. pffft.


thats how it looks when its done!

now for with lights and without lights!

thats without.duhhhh


with lights on :) big difference! now it feels more realistic?


top view..

later on, i also proceded to the front part and began the wiring! this was a whole lot easier -_-"" probably experience?


i took that piece out from this:




as you can see, one pair of bulbs goes to the top area there on the left, while the other pair will light up the cockpit! :)

now for all the light up portions for the whole aircraft! :D







voila~! i am done with the upgrading! being so very pleased with how the lights turned out, now it feels as though every creation of mine in the future needs to have these!! they look just so awesome =D kudos to lifelites!