Photoshopping again

So I decided to try the "drawing yourself" idea on photoshop. I couldn't really get the effect I wanted as it's really hard to take a picture of yourself. So this was I came up with in an hours work.

Ah, self portraits are hard to do alone... :/

Playing with photoshop

An old friend had asked me to help him photoshop some pictures.

I made a few pieces using a popular plugin called fractalius. It's a filter that does some interesting effects.

Here's the pieces I've done.

This is probably the coolest filter I've ever used hahaha, and this is definitely not the last time I'm using this!

Resolutions?

The new year is coming and it's a good time for me to reflect on past events. 

2013 was a year fully spent with NS and boy did that turn out to be more eventful than I thought it would. There were times of great experiences and bad ones. 

Listing the good ones first, I went diving, wall climbing, trampolining, running... I've really outdone my expectations to be more active outdoors.

But these aside, I felt I have matured a little bit more, getting to understand myself and how I think. It wasn't an easy process. Indeed there were times I challenged myself but more often, I get thrown into a situation that I've never encountered before.

So what are my plans for 2014? To really step into my twenties with more confidence. My late teens was mostly experimenting to understand myself and the world ard me a little better but now it's time step out and be more independent. I have to learn to look after myself and accept the consequences of my own actions. I have to learn to make thoughtful decisions and, I really need to learn how to cook. T_T

Well those are my thoughts this Christmas... Hoping for a good 2014! 

Seashell seashell

Forgot to add this in. I met a Noble Volute when we beached. ^^ . First time I met one that was alive. Really thought it might be poisonous, hence the extra precaution haha.

Round Ubin Trip

The distance for a round trip around Ubin is 21km. That's a half-marathon distance. 

Was i crazy when I signed up for this?

So 6 people including myself turned up for this meetup (originally 20+ people were supposed to come). After settling the usual stuff with the rental, we got our boats back to the shore.

We launched from Changi beach near the crossing channel that we will take to reach Ubin. 

A few curious people came closer at what we were doing. There was this cute little boy who said "Banana!" when he saw our kayaks. What things look like to a child xP.

An interesting sight was how Pulau Ubin looked like from the other side. It's been blocked with huge metal fences, that I guess was meant to deter smugglers.

Nothing much else happened afterwards. We beached up on the western tip to eat lunch and rowed back to Changi for dunch.

With this, I clocked sufficient distance to start my Three Star course. Will try to take by early next year. (I hope :x) 

BBQ at Zach's

Our training department has been really busy these past few weeks. The injection of new courses such as EMT and EMT-b has made our instructor pool barely enough to run our usual courses.

Zach decided to organise a small BBQ at his home condo, which is a small distance away from our camp, as a sort of gathering and retreat. 

For the first time, I took a ride on a friend's motorcycle, despite a subconscious thought of my parents reminding me never to ride on one. You can't blame them, but there's a fine line between safety and paranoia. Since it's a short trip anyway, I took the chance.

Zach has 2 cats. The friendlier one named Mimi.

It's かわいい! I do love cats or as Zach like to put it: pussy. Unfortunately, it's not very interactive with strangers...    ._.

A funny incident happened at the condo. Do you hate vending machines that get your food stuck during it's dispensing process?

We saw a vending machine that probably did that on some poor fella who used up his money only to receive nothing. A packet of twiggies lies at the very tip, somewhat defying gravity and refusing to fall down.

For cheap thrills, we decided to try to get it. Eventually, realizing that hitting the vending machine will probably get us into trouble, one of us bought a bread packet that would hit the twiggies on the way down.

The things we do for a packet of twiggies. >_>

The night went by really quickly. It was nice to catch up with everyone again. Despite being in the same office, we see each other so little, that having a small retreat like this makes us bond further.

Halloween 2013

So here's a backdated post. 

26.10.13

My sister, who's helping out with a Halloween event at the Asian Civilisation Museum had invited me to go visit. 

The event had offered plenty of activities together with free entry. And in the spirit of Halloween, I decided to put on some appropriate make-up. And here's the result:

It took me about an hour with help of my sister to get the complete effect. And the zip is real. It actually had to be glued on with some spirit gum that came with the make-up kit.

Only problem was that I did this while I was at home. And I had planned to use public transport afterwards.

So you can well ... imagine, the looks people gave me on the train.

I was afraid I might be a little overdressed at the event. I mean, do Singaporeans dress up for Halloween? 

I became fairly nervous when one entered. I was alone, and there were only normal-clothed people in the main hall apart from the performers who were doing the kuda kempang performance.

Luckily, I wasn't alone for long. Some people among the crowd approached me, apparently fascinated by the zip. 

Then another man in an awesome demon costume passed by. Our eyes met, and a short conversation turned into a request to take a photo together. 

Then somehow, we created some sort of station for people to take photos with us. Other scary people soon joined the scene.

And of course I didn't forget the real reason I came here, which was to have some bonding time with my sister. We took a sibling shot at the photo booth.

Home Team Festival 2013

The home team festival is a family targeted event that offers plenty of activities and educational experiences free of charge to the public.

So us medical instructors have been 'arrowed' to set up a booth of 5 manikins to let the public learn and experience what doing CPR is like.

This wasn't something new to us. We did do something similar for CBD 2013. And what's funny was that it was just at ITE Simei, a short distance away from EXPO.

The chairman said they wanted to reach a target of 40k visitors in the 3 days. I think they've passed it. The crowd was crazy. 

We had kids, students, young adults, parents and even the elderly approaching our booth.

Secretly we were hoping people would not stop at our booth. Not that we're lacking enthusiasm, but kneeling isn't the most comfortable position to teach in. And we kneeled for hours. 

My knees were red and pretty sore when I got back. Even prickly while in the shower. Cushions shall be on the list of items to bring next time.

Luckily, our officer in charge was willing to let us roam around during non peak hours. We tried some of the more exciting activities there like abseiling, the quick jump, and shooting the hand gun.

It was fun. Sure our knees felt like they aged 20 years in 3 days but we got to try things we otherwise wouldn't have gotten to do.

 

Great job team!

Getting back some personal time

I know it's been 2 months since I last penned my thoughts down and it was starting to bothering me.

It was a promise to a friend that I would keep writing as long as something troubled me instead of keeping my emotions in, lest I wish to return to a state I previously was in. But this blog isn't really as grim as it's supposed to be. I do pen happy and silly moments as they are as precious and honestly more fun to read in the future.

So I got back from Salt Lake City in early October with a lot of photos and stories to share. 

It's been a long time since I hung out with my brother. Even though we have an age gap of 10 years and quite opposite personalities (him being more serious while me prefering to fool around), I enjoyed his company especially when knowing I don't much opportunities to bond with him as he lives across the globe. 

But one will have to enter the barrier to enjoy this state. Cracked lips, dry skin, freezing weather and jet lag is a good start.

A shockingly slow immigration process made things inconvenient. Not impossible but made having Muhamad  as your name, an annoying issue (Sorry Sir, there's a lot of people with the name Muhamad, we need to double check the system) 

2 weeks came really quickly and it was soon time to return home, with dry lips and cracked skin.

So I have not given an excuse for my hiatus. It was partly work and partly procrastination. Haha, and to my future self reading this, no I am not lying about the work! 

Leaving for Utah

Yup, there's been a hiatus in my blogging recently and it's been due to the amount of work I've been doing. And usually my brain is all fried by night that I usually don't have enough energy to blog.

I do still have my pictures so I do hope to back-blog (if such a term exists lol) at some time in the future.

Nevertheless, there's an important event today, that I must put an entry in my blog about: my departure to UTAH. First real holiday I'm ever getting. 

So prepare for good photos from my 70D ( shit haven't wrote an entry on that but I got a new camera recently, guys! :O )

Ok gtg. Cheers!

Lunch @ Ubin

  

Back to school

Backdate to Friday 23/08/13. 

I took the afternoon off today!!

A recent announcement was made to all NSFs that all OIL (off-in-lieu) had to be cleared within 1 month and not within 6 months, as it was previously thought. Hence, I'm clearing it before it expires.

I decided to visit my old school to catch up with some of my teachers. 

While I was there, I thought I'd walk ard for a bit, trying to get some feeling of nostalgia. It's not like I'm leaving for anywhere far but I felt that it won't be long that I will stop coming back to this place as all the old staff move on to other places and I can no longer recognize my juniors.

In fact, I could only recognize some of the year 6s and 5s. 

I spoke to a few people: my class mentor, Mrs Lay, my research mentor, Dr Tang, and finally Ms Mazni, a motherly figure who's always interacting with us students. 

While chatting over a cup of coffee, Mrs Lay shared that a student will be performing her senior recital that night.

Now this would not normally interest me, especially when the performer is someone i do not know personally, but when I found out her 1st instrument was vocals, I couldn't resist the temptation to stay and catch her recital. I've watched many piano/violin recitals, but this would be the first time I'm attending one presenting vocals.

And I did not regret my decision. Sure, i did end up coming back home really late, but I managed to enjoy a unique performance. 

Claire, a soprano trained in classical vocals, had an impressive voice. And the songs she sang that night, while having a few hiccups, were fun to listen to.

Being her own Emcee that night also added a personal touch to the recital. She had a sincere likable personality. And her awkward humor never went too far. 

Her pieces on her second instrument were however less polished. On her first piano piece, many had already realized that she was nervous. And she suffered for it. Mistakes became increasingly obvious and at one point she stopped playing completely.

Messing up a performance to such a state would kill any musician. But her personality saved her. Taking a deep breath, she told the audience confidently, that she would do the entire phrase again, before apologizing. And the crowd gave her their support, cheering her on with another round of applause.

She made it through and one could see that as the recital went on, she became more relaxed and started enjoying her time as a performer.

The recital ended at 9. By the time I got back home it was 10. So much for taking the afternoon off. :(

 

Nasi Lemak Power @ Boon Lay

Backdate to Thursday 22/08/13

Min invited us to join him and his other friends for dinner at Boon Lay. We were going to order the famous nasi lemak power that has people queuing up for more.

For $2.50, the nasi lemak is good. The service was also quick but friendly. And what if we wanted more rice or some add ons after we were already ordered and had seated down? You don't have to queue as this can be ordered separately from the main queue line which serves the nasi lemak.

Before heading back to camp, I went to stock up my snacks supply at a nearby shop. And guess what I found:

Eye glass candy! Hahaha, brings back much childhood memories. I didn't think that they were still selling these. I was almost tempted to buy one too, but ended up just getting a bag of chips.

Hahaha I'm eating so much unhealthy food today T_T

Our ma'am is running??

Backdate to Wednesday 21/08/13

Today our ma'am started her exercise routine to 'lose weight' she says jokingly.

We decided to run two rounds around our office block to start it off. Nothing much happened but I did end up seeing a monitor lizard for the first time.

After the two rounds, the rest headed for lunch while I ran another 2.4 km. I'm trying to balance out my gym workout with regular cardio such as running and swimming.

And my swimming has been improving. Just need more practice so I can endure a front crawl for at least 50 m instead of always giving up at 25 m. JY me ._. 

Projects!!!

I'm currently working on a video project for my branch that is: creating a series of educational videos about first aid skills and the some medical services SCDF provides. 

Sounds simple?

The video content is subjected to the approval of my boss. And my boss is someone who's a little difficult for me to work with so I'm not too optimistic. On the bright side, it's really nostalgic to be doing these kind of video work again.

For example: when was the last time I created a storyboard??? Hahaha. It was kinda fun but now this giant picture comic looms at my office reminding me of a project work that cannot be given up halfway like my other whimsical projects that I shelved for later years.

Progress is being made, and that's what keeping me distracted from the time that appears to tick slower as my ORD date gets nearer.

Even if this project gets rejected or doesn't get used in the end (like one of my previous ones did), i get to walk away with some more practice in my hobby.

My old school Cca is organizing a camp and they have invited me to join them as a stand by first aider. I can't wait to come back and mingle with my juniors again. Hopefully I'm be able to catch up with the teachers as well.

Now back to reading my book. 

Cheers!

Bye bye Fyn

Another one of my seniors ORD-ed today. :(

He was the one who interviewed me during my recruit time for medic selection. It was an interesting chat apparently:-

Fyn: So you're from NUS High?

Me: Yea

Fyn: Do you know someone called Hanisah?

Me: Yea. She's a friend.

Fyn: (laughs) She's my cousin.

Me: (looks at his face... suddenly realizing a similarity in their facial features)

A fun guy, fyn emits an aura of friendliness. We usually tease him that he's a whale due to the resemblance when he naps on the floor. (Kinda mean I know, haha). He's a good swimmer too despite his appearance("ur natural habitat" xD ). 

Only batch 121 and 122 are left before it'll be our turn(123). That's 7 more months. Time will pass quickly..

Kayaking at Lower Seletar Reservoir

This time, our meetup was held a little bit closer to central at Lower Seletar Reservoir. It was about an hour travel from my place as it's located near Khatib MRT (in fact you get a nice view of the lake from the train)

8 of us turned up this time. Willy, Clara, Isaac, Narayana, Xavier, WM, Wee and myself. 

Lower Seletar is a little special as we get into the water from a pontoon. Which means we have to get into the kayak when the kayak is already in the water, making our entry a little bit clumsy and "unglamorous". Elegance is not required unless you want to risk capsizing into the rocky shore.

The DMA is relatively small compared to other water venture outlets, so we decided to kayak one round (anti-clockwise cos Willy didn't want to face the morning sun) around the DMA while chatting to get to know each other better.

Today was the first time I met WM and her friend Wee. Both work in IT and WM was actually introducing her friend to the sport, hence the open deck kayak.

The sun was all out that day. Even though we kayaked only a short distance, I'm still fasting and i felt the effects of dehydration within an hour. 

To beat the heat I decided to practice my capsize drill. Soon after, I had some of the others join in (forcibly) by capsizing their boats. And so the fun begins. 

We started plashing each other with water and suddenly a group of adults have turned into a bunch of kids.

When 3 of us were in the water (capsized by each other) one of the water venture staff came by on a powerboat. I guess he was wondering why so many of us had capsized. He gave us tips and guidance  on rescuing each other before giving a subtle reminder that we shouldn't really capsize in the reservoir. (It's untreated water)

Before we knew it, 2 hours had almost passed and we headed back to land.

Willy helped take this photo of us. He tried to zipai as well but failed. Haha..

Exercise Bocca

Yesterday was my first exercise for our NDP stand-by. It was held overnight and despite me having a simple role of triaging the casualties, I was a complete zombie by the end of the exercise. (Ok, that was an exaggeration, but staying awake for long hours has always been difficult for me unless coffee is involved)

So first, we double-checked the generators and ensured they're running on full tanks. Apparently, there were past incidents when the generators would fail at scene. Some displeasure erupted from the overseeing officers and was at the expense of our ma'am's competence to oversee our part of the operation. Hence, our vigorous checking of generators before we leave @_@

After checking that everything's ok, we moved off in our SWIFT to standby at Bishan Fire station for activation.

We decided to fool around inside on the way there. Here's Walter,

We parked near Kallang leisure park and waited for our respective activation. Apparently it was hinted that they may be  100 casualties due to a dirty bomb. 😨

At 1 am in the morning the codeword was released, signaling that a CA was identified. The exercise begins.

I was placed to assist in triaging the incoming casualties. Tagged either P1, P2 or P3, they would be then be relocated for their respective treatments. 

P1s would be sent to our SWIFT for critical intervention treatments.

To our surprise (and perhaps relief) only about 16 casualties were released. Perhaps the higher ups realized that 100 casualties was crazy. 

After debrief and clean up, we took some photos together.

We reached back at 4.00am in the morning and were given the morning off to catch some rest. 😪