Call me slacker or whatever, i don't mind a single bit. I admit that i have been a little "layyzeee" to update my blog for the past few weeks :P I can't just believe that one month already passed since i made my last post, i felt like it's only a while ago when i made the New Year post on the beginning of January and within a split second, i am now wishing everyone Happy New Year again, only now that it's prefixed with lunar/chinese before the 'New Year' phrase. (Why the heck do they called it Lunar New Year anyway? Is it because of the new moon cycle?)
So, what happened during this one whole month? Nothing much, it turned out that after the first progress test mentioned in my previous post (and subsequently we celebrated it), we found that we were further bombarded with another series of tests NON-STOP and soon enough, we found that those tests became more like our routine chores and there's actually nothing much to celebrate about, really. Our ATPL (final) exam is just about slightly more than 2 months away from now (67 days to be exact), instead of 4 months when we just started the course back in December. New information just kept flooding in and flooding in beyond our brains' capability to store it quickly enough.
Because of this, we had undergone some really crazy moments thanks to my nutcase buddies. Our classes were so lively everyday and there were at least one unlucky person to get picked on everyday. Roar of laughters, all sort of words from the swearsaurus database can be heard every now and then and it grew more intense when our brain workload limit was exceeded especially during navplot and flight plan classes. Syok! Who said being a pilot is an easy task huh? Say it again and i'll put you through 5 days worth of classes and i could guarantee that you will freak out by the end of third day. Haha! Okay, maybe i exaggerated a little. Nevertheless, it's close to something like that.
Oh, it's also worth mentioning that Kel was rumoured to be infected by a deadly disease called piles. For further readings about piles, you may refer here. Also, apparently our Ted hit some sort of jackpot. 160Gb Ipod! Fuggin' hell! I am also proud to announced that we were "promoted" once again due to new entry of cadets and is now ranked number 2 (as in second most senior batch) in the entire college! W00t!!
Left : Trigonometry? Look carefully.. Right: Someone's fart killed it
I guess that pretty summarizes up everything that happened in the past few weeks and of course, i'll conclude with my OBS experience on Day 8! Not much of photos for Day 8 because most of the activities were done on the sea (it's pretty hardcore) and i'm sure nobody wanted to get their cameras drowned nor sank onto the bottom of the sea. Enjoy!
Day 8 (Kayak II Expedition)
This morning, i was exempted from our routine 2.4km run. Sad. Coz my blisters went out of control and kenny told me not to aggravate it further. I am limping now. So hard to wear shoes, so hard to wear socks, and even harder to walk. So i became a timekeeper instead, everyone seem to have improved their running time. I'd like to see mine improve as well.
Our lovely instructors!
Why only did he get to jump? :(
Weather forecast stated that it would be partly cloudy today. I hope it's cloudy just enough to block out th sunlight and not too much that it begins to pour. Kayaking expedition is due to start soon, this time using a slightly different type of kayak. Heavier, bulkier, but also more stable. I hope my kayak does not capsize all the way again during the entire expedition like i did in the first kayaking practice session.
Left: Chilling out
Right: How he managed to sleep in that position remained to be a mystery.
Left : Spraydeck to prevent kayak from getting flooded by water splashing in
Right: Briefing
All set to go!!
Back from kayak, i got a strong kayak partner and was very grateful of it. No unwanted capsize occured except during the drills. Shoulders were really tired and sore. Initially, we were planning to go around Pulau Ubin. However, due to to bad weather and approaching thunderstorm, we was forced to beached up nearby like 1-2km away and look for shelter in order to avoid getting strucked by the lightning. We were stuck for about 1 hour waiting for the storm to subside and ended up kayaking only on one side of the island, to and back. So it was like we only paddled like about 10km instead of 20km. Anyway, it took about 5 hours to complete the expedition including some emergency drills.
Left: One moment we were kayaking happily
Right: The next moment, we all had to beached up because of approaching thunderstorm...borringg..
First two drills were the capsize drills where our kayak were turned over on purpose and practice the recovery in the fastest time possible. Fun and salty! First, we capsize individually in a controlled order. Meaning only 2 kayaks were turned over at any one time. After everyone was more proficient, the second capsize drill was the worst case scenario where there were a mass capsize and everyone flipped over their kayaks at the same time on instructors mark. Man...climbing back into the kayak was a pain in the ass. Trust me.
The final drills was the storm drill where a floating rope with buoys and clips laid across the sea, and we had to rush for the clips and 'anchor' ourselves in case of a stormy condition. Had to repeat the attempt a few times because we kind of screwed up on the first few tries. Everyone scrambled to anchor their own kayak first and everything was so messed up when the original intention was to do it in a orderly fashion. Oh well, at least we learned something.
Marching huh?
Nightmare was not over yet. On the way back, we had to take turn towing each other's kayak which means double weight! double pain! double of everything! but with a single engine (human power). Fuh...tiring as hell.
Long distance run was cancelled since we arrived late around 7pm. I felt so wobbly for the rest of the night due to the prolonged motion in the sea. (Is that what you called sea-sickness?). Everyone else felt the same way. Damn funny. Anyway it's sleeping time and currently preparing for the part 2 of community service tomorrow at the same place we went a few days back.
Oh, by the way, i burst one of my blisters forcefully that night and had one of my buddy applied some sort of chinese medicinal herb on it, called "ching cao yu" (green grass oil) or some thing like that and in just within a few split seconds of application, i screamed like i never did before in my entire life. I was in agony and it felt like someone is pouring thick acid onto your wound. The pain was simply indescribable but he claimed that it would heals very quickly afterwards. I'm keeping my finger crossed.
Days Left : 13
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