Tone down, Step up

November has come! and im sure looking forward to it and beyond.
This marks the end of a hectic october, preceded by a crazy september pot-holed with guard duties. Last saturday was the very last guard duty that ill ever be doing! - until next june perhaps...

Now that the OSA outfield deployments have ended and everyone involved in it is happy, so am i; the unit crew who had to take care of everything in camp while they were gone. This november will be much breezier for 3 reasons - first, we are still admin flight; there aint no site duty. second, OSA is over, and lots of manpower is transfered back to unit. and third, its the deployment crews' turns to take the guard duties! eat that!

This un-busy period couldnt have come at a better time - the heat of mission trip and church camp preparations is sure catching up during this month, and i know i will be well occupied, yet not stretched, during this time. Now in case of weekday meetings, i could put into good use the several off days i have accumulated through those crazy weeks with weekend guard duties and no chance to have a rest day after.

This is a good chance for me to put myself to good use, and looking forward to making a difference. Thanks be to God for this opportunity.
Oh, and swing wide the doors of the brand new church@leedon!

First Attempt

Its been a long september spent with every weekday in camp, = no breaks in between to go home. plus lots of guard duties, more than what ill be doing in the next 2 months. but finally its over. Hopefully will have more chances to blog too.

Last week was my first attempt at my TP driving practical test! And since there has not been any joyful exclaimations over facebook, twitter or whereeverelse, you could guess i failed.
3 immediate failures and 32 points, 20 of which came from striking kerb twice. all chalked up in the circuit. (driving on the road i got zero points. it could have been the tester going easy after the already demoralising score, or maybe i made no obvious mistake at all - i would say its possible.

2 main reasons i attribute to my failure -
first, i have never been into the BBDC circuit; all the while i had only used the private circuit which had all the stations, but the layout was totally different. i was in for a tough time in the unfamiliar environment on the test day itself! this unfamiliarity is partly the cause for my near-accident.
Secondly, ON THE TEST DAY ITSELF, my private instructor changed to a new car!! the new brakes and gears and steering wheel was stiff and i couldnt go by the feel i had before. the console was different. the car,too, was unfamiliar. Worst of all, the different dimensions of the car and the lack of a auto-wind-down side mirror caused the parking formulas i learned on the old car to be totally obsolete. i had to find out and get used to a new formula within the 2 hour lesson before the test - and by the end of it still none worked. hence another 2 immediate failures - from parking.

So now, i just gotta focus on getting my circuit stations right, figuring out how to work the new car, and visit the actual circuit again. and also to find a suitable new test date, probably 2+ months from now. Yes, i forgive my instructor.