.Wednesday, June 17, 2009 ;
2:30 PM
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Each day is special and unique .
HELLO GUYS! Ok, so I'm back after not updating for 2 weeks and 2 days. Haha.
A very enjoyable holiday right now. Guess the same for you, right? :D
Several things happened in this short time.
Namely the NCC Specialists Course, my trip to Perth, Australia and my adventure to The PC Show 2009.
Firstly, about the NCC Spec Course.
First day: Felt homesick and uneasy. Quickly adapted to the new temporary environment. Platoon mates were very friendly and both Cadet Officers(CLT) were friendly as well as approachable. We were briefed about what our objectives were till the end of the Course and what we hoped to achieve. We were also told about our schedule for the next 2 days. Got used to the food, though the quantity was very little and the timings of each meal were quite irregular.
Second & Third day: Went through all the tests thoroughly and also quite nervously. Got to know my bunk mates well and got in touch with a few old friends from Primary school.
Night of Third day: Completed the Infantry Gunnery and Tactical Simulator(IGTS) simulation in the evening and finally booked out of camp at about 10.15pm so that I could go home and prepare for my flight to Perth the following morning.
Trip to Perth
1st day: Boarded SQ plane to Perth. Didn't enjoy lunch. Met the rest of the Tkd students. Checked into apartment hotel in the suburbs and strolled in the park right behind it. Comfortable and cool air with a beautiful Swan Lake. Went to a place like Bugis Street, ate dinner(Fish 'N' Chips) and did a bit of window shopping. Went back to hotel to prepare for the next day.
2nd day: Went for breakfast with everyone at Hungry Jack's(something like Burger King). Went back to hotel to prepare for short training. Training ended. Needed a lot of stretching exercises as my thighs were stiff(and they still are).
3rd day: Prepared for competition. Competed with 2 Australian adults in the Poomsae(pattern) event. Did the blue belt pattern(Ooh - jang). As there were only 3 of us, everyone had to get a medal, be it Bronze, Silver or Gold. I didn't really stretch much that morning and so didn't do quite well. But I managed to get a Bronze although I almost had a Silver.
Waited patiently for my turn in Sparring in the Senior Category, as I was 15 years old, which was obviously after the Junior Category. Sparred with an Australian black belt kid. He liked to stick to me and hugged me, giving me no chance of hitting him. But yeah, I lost eventually and only made it out with a Bronze from the Poomsae while that kid got the Gold trophy.
Next, everyone went for a Buffet dinner in some other hotel. Food was okay-okay and I ate well. Went back to apartment hotel and said goodbye to the rest of the competition team as they were due back in Sg the next day while my mum had extended an extra 3 days to stay in Perth.
4th day: My mum, cousin and I went with a tkd friend and his father to a Wildlife Park where we interacted with kangaroos, koalas, goats, lamps, an owl and a wombat(no idea what that is). Fun day and we went back to apartment hotel to prepare to check out and check in at another hotel in the city area called Hotel ibis. Said goodbye to tkd friend and his father as they were also due back in Sg the next day while we were finally alone on our own.
5th day: Went to a Shooting complex where we saw real rifles, pistols and revolvers. Too bad, I'm under 16 and thus, wasn't allowed to use the pistol or reolver. Only allowed to use the rifle. It was cool and a good experience even though I only got near the Bull's eye twice. The rest of the shots were either out of range or just totally missed.
6th day: Did quite a lot of shopping. Bought a cap, a phone strap, a pair of sunglasses and then watched I Love You, Man which was rated M for Sexual References. The theatre was damn small with a small screen and steep flight of steps to the seats. In there, it was free seating. So as long u bought tickets to the show, you can sit anywhere u like. And the chairs were very steep. Cross your legs and you'd be touching the person's head in the row in front of you. Luckily for us, we sat in an empty area where we could shake our legs.
In Sg, there's this 10 - 15 min advertisement before each show starts. There, it's just 10 minutes of slow music, 5 mins of ads and then the show begins.
In Australia, M was viewable only for those aged 15 and older, while in Sg, it's NC-16, only for those aged 16 years and older, and the show is in Sg only in 18th June. Wahaha!! A lot of humour, vulgarities and a bit of violence.
6th day: We did some last-minute shopping and boarded a coach to the airport for International flights and finally made our way home on the 11th June.
The PC Show
Saturday: Did some online research and asked friends about what was being sold there as I could only go there on Sunday. Many gadgets, software, hardware, peripherals, etc. I wanted a Sony PSP, a HDD, Internal or External, and a better Graphics Card.
Sunday: Couldn't find a PSP, only PSP games. Went to the Graphics Card corner and persuaded my father to buy the $160 one. In the end, he bought the $200 GeForce 9800GT! Then we went to 2 booths selling Hard Disk Drives. One of them sold the 320GB HDD for $120. The other booth sold the same HDD for only $100. So of course we bought the $100 as it was a good price.
This is the end of the summary of what happened each day there. Haha. I lazy to upload a 100 pictures and videos taken from the trip to Perth sia... Any questions can ask me! :D
Thanks for ur patience in reading. It's a VERY long post, I know. If there were pictures and videos, loading would take longer, yeah.