The Bombmaker by Stephen Leather... =)

BOOOOMMM!!!! This book is filled with non-stop suspense! Once I started it, I just couldn't put the book down! (which made me lose an hour of sleep! :@) This book is easy to start and easy to finish. Light-reading basically... =D It took be about an hour to finish the book.
What is this book about? It's about a lady, Andrea Hayes, IRA's most brilliant bombmaker. But, one of her bombs when horrifyingly wrong, and 4 children perished, and that's when she gave it all up. She started a whole new life, her true identity hidden from everyone, even from her husband and daughter, Katie. Life goes on as usual, until one day, their daughter is kidnapped from the house, and Andrea realizes that her pass has come back to haunt her. =D

But what fascinates me in this book is this technology called "Echelon". It has been around since the seventies. It involves the Americans, GCHQ, Australians, Canadians and New Zealand. Between the 5 countries, every single satellite, land line and undersea cable transmission is monitored. Every phone call, fax, telex and email in the world. Echelon can search through all transmissions looking for a particular word, or combinations of words. It can even search out voice prints. Amazing?

This "thing" is believed to be used by the Echelon.

Imagine that, every single thing we send out through text messages, calls, etc... are ALL MONITORED! Where is the privacy promised by the telcos? Hm... O.O Imagine what kind of info all people working there get. And, the problems it can cause.. BUT, think of all the crimes that can be solved too. Oh well, everything has it pros and cons, I guess...?

Book Rating: 7/10

Anyway, BOOM!

PLKN Friends! =D

I must say having new friends in NS has made my days in National Service pass much faster (MUCH MUCH faster) than I imagined it would be. Comparing to the first few days in NS, time was passing very VERY SLOWLY for me. And the only people I hung around were my two schoolmates, and fyi, one of them has already left. And it was a little hard for us to get to know the other people, because we were all introverts. Now, time is now literally flying by me. I can consider myself having a good time in NS. And, I SERIOUSLY can't imagine that a month of NS has already passed by.

This some of the pictures I took with my friend's camera. =D

This is Jin Xi (Perlis), Jared (Kulim), and Dave (Sungai Petani).With the other Chinese guys... (Sorry... I'm not into posing =D)Monkey and Rav.Notice that we have a guitar there...? It's Jared's! =D

At nights, we have basically nothing to do, when the Muslims go for their daily night prayer. We occupy ourselves with chess, UNO and the guitar! =D

SUSOM 2010... [Kuantan]

SUSOM! Ah… It seems just like yesterday I was in Kuantan with Jing, getting our testimony about SUSOM ready for church deputation in Kuantan Baptist Church. Memories and experiences, I have, and learnt, that shall always be close to my heart. =)

24/01/2010

All of us had to wake up early today. The 6 of us, were split into 3 groups, and were to go to 3 different churches. My church deputation partner today would be with Jing! And we were to attend Kuantan Baptist Church with Sieh Jin and Jason. By the time we left, the first group had already left.
Kuantan Baptist Church is like Wesley Methodist Church Alor Setar… located in shop lots. It looked small from the outside. But when I stepped inside, my first impression of it was HUGE! Maybe it was because of the way it was furnished that made it look bigger. Jing and I did our testimony interview style. I think it was okay…? You should ask Jing what she felt it was. Sieh Jin preached the same message he did in Tamil Methodist Church in KL. The book table was set up as usual, and I think the response was pretty good. And guess what, there were refreshments after the service. It seems to be a routine here. I think it's a good way of fellowshipping. It's a good idea. I think churches should practice this, but it'll make the church broke. Haha…

A funny thing happened though, while we were having our refreshments. Before we came here, I was asking Jing, why they didn't invite us to join their youth which was after church service, like the other 2 churches the other 4 SUSOMites went. And it so happened that the speaker which was to speak couldn't make it and the youth counselor asked Sieh Jin to take his place. =D My wish came true. =)

Jing sharing.

I was shocked to see such few youths joining youth service. Maybe they aren't many youth Christians in Kuantan. But, we were totally unprepared though. We played a game, the game that Tong and Deb wanted to play with the youth service they were attending, and the loser had to do butt writing. =D (My group won! =D) And after that, we shared a little about our testimony and Sieh Jin shared about SU. But I think, the youth still managed to learn some things from us and know more about the works of SU. =)

After youth, we joined the others for lunch. We were invited by one of the Presbyterian Church's member. The chicken rice I had there was superb. How I wish the chicken rice in Alor Setar was as nice. Hm… And, our work in Kuantan was done! =D Time to head back to PJ!
But before that, we made a pit stop in FELDA Residence TEKAM. Jennifer wanted to check out the campsite for SUPA camp. I think Kedah SU Camp should be held there one day. The only thing it the journey would take more than 8 hours…? And, the guys' toilet is like the toilets in NS. Open bathing. I guess some guys would be uncomfortable with the idea. But the facilities there are quite lengkap I think. There are chalets, a swimming pool, a field, badminton and volleyball courts, dorms, halls, etc…

Anyway, we had bah ku teh for dinner (the famous one in PJ, by 1), and guess what, Josh says he has never had it before. Can you believe it? =D

"Da Niu".

PLKN CASE 2: The Spot Check Till 2 a.m.

PLKN Case 2: The Spot Check Till 2 a.m.! For the whole list of cases, click here. For Case 4, click here. =D
What caused the spot check? And why was it till 2 a.m.? I think most camps don't do such spot checks? It so happened that one of the trainees reported to the jurulatihs that there were trainees smoking in the cottages. The reason it was reported because that trainee couldn't tahan the smell of the cigarette smoke. And thus, the ketua jurulatih launched a full scale spot check for GUYS only. The girls were excused, and could go back to their respective cottages to sleep. (=S No fair!)

And thus, at about 11 plus p.m., the spot check begun. All of the guys were in their respective groups sorted to their respective cottages. A whole company of guys took about 45 mins, and there were 4 companies. Imagine that. By 1 a.m., a sight of wiras could be seen lying on the tar road sleeping. =D

The spot check ended at about 2 close to 3 a.m., and we slept for about 2~3 hours before getting up for the following day's PT Pagi. Argh!

The weird cases of PLKN! :S

2010...

2010...

I can't believe that it's almost May already! I think time has never passed this fast for me... In a few more days, Form 6 shall start (and I don't know what to feel... Excited? Or scared?). And before you know it, Christmas has arrived, and carolling shall begin! And say goodbye to 2010, and hello to 2011. How time flies.

Ah... Sometimes, looking back and reflecting back on the events that happened throughout the year can be rather fun, don't you think? =] When you think about it, the events that happened just seems like yesterday, and there is a deep longing to get back to that time frame.

In January, I joined a program called SUSOM. There, I met 5 great friends. And, also many great mentors that has touched and built my life. Looking back, I miss those days. Ah, how I wish it was January 2010 again. =)

In February, I had the chance to visit Astro, head down to Penang and KL for short vacations. =)

In March, I joined Kedah SU Camp as a helper, and thus, after that, my National Service life began... until now.

I must say, God has blessed me with activities to keep me occupied. And I must say, I've never found my life after Form 5 boring, although many of friends are complaining that the period of 3 ~ 4 months after SPM was a rather boring time for them.

Thank you God!... and my parents too! =D

PLKN CASE 4: The Keeping of Handphones.

CASE 4: The Keeping of Our Handphones! For the whole list of cases, click here. Out of the 5 cases, I think I'll blog about 4, one of them seems inappropriate to be blogged about (only those who know, will know). =D

11/04/2010

Today was the day the camp commanders decided to confiscate our phones, for the time being. This camp had a known history of not keeping the handphones of the NS trainees, compared to the other camps.

Reason? There were many speculations made by the trainees on why our handphones were taken back. One of the many theories formed were one of the trainees were playing with their phones and did not call out a greeting of respect to the jurulatihs and tuans. Another speculation that was going around was the camp commanders wanted to stop the smuggling in of cigarettes. And from now, our phones would be with us from Thursday night to Saturday night (which was sadly changed to Friday afternoon to Saturday night later on). And, that's why our phones were taken. =(

And because of that, we Christians were late going to church! Earlier on, Jared, Benjamin and I had negotiated for the change of church; from Wesley Methodist Church Chinese Service to Wesley Methodist Church English Service, with the Timbalan Commandant, and he had given us green light. And today, when we asked the Urus Setia whether we were going to the English Service today, she said she hadn't any news, and the Timbalan Commandant was not around, and you know what she said? She said "Never mind larh, if this week cannot go church, no need go, next week only go pray." (Translated from BM) I was like, "WHAT? Just yesterday the Timbalan Commandant was talking about our haks sebagai pelatih PLKN, and now you talk like this?" I was so PISSED!

Finally, we managed to get to church, but we were a whole hour late, which was a pity. There was an invited speaker from out-of-town, and I think his talk would have been a rather interesting one. And guess what, the bus came and pick us a whole hour late! Come also late, go back also late! ARGH!

Interesting? Come to PLKN, and experience weird experiences. And you'll learn to stand up for your rights. =)

PLKN Kuala Nerang "Special" Events! =D

There were a few "unusual" events that happened in throughout the period when I was in National Service. =D

Let me see...

CASE 1: The Missing Person.
CASE 2: The Spot Check Till 2 a.m.
CASE 3: The Locker That Was Punched.
CASE 4: The Keeping of Handphones.
CASE 5: Scandal.

I think there are much much more, but I can't seem to recall others at the moment... =D

So, which case do you wanna hear first? Keep checking my blog for the full story! =)

A Note I Wrote on the First Day of NS...

29/03/2010

First Day of National Service.

At 8 o'clock, the sun shining. There was I, lugging my bag and pail along, to the stadium, where the buses to NS would be, waiting for the unlucky trainees who got selected.

I went. I saw. Buses. Loads of them. Zhean Wei was already there. He had already registered. And his was the first bus, leaving me and Poh Khoon behind on the second bus.

I arrived at Kem Dusun Minda Resort, Kuala Nerang an hour later. My first thought. Doomsday. I'm like a fish out of water here. I was surpised to see trainees there already. It seems that the Ipoh, Sungai Petani, Kulim trainees had already arrived. Oh, I thought, the Alor Setar group was the last to arrive.

Thank goodness I had friends from my ex-school, Zhean Wei and Poh Khoon. Without them, I think life for me here would be more miserable. And the other trainees seemed to have their own cliques already. :S Ah... making friends was never easy, especially when you are an introverted person.

Life sucks here. The toilet is dirty (probably because it has not been cleaned or used since the last batch of NS), the water in the kolam is yellow... How can one survive? Home... is a MUCH MUCH better place! =[ I guess I just have to pull through till NS ends? Just another 70 days. :S

I can't wait for form 6 to start! (And I seriously can't believe I'm saying this) Studying seems so much more FUN than this.

Going on to food. It's okay I guess? Fish, meat, veggies and fruit? And, that's what I'll be eating for the next 70 days of my life. :S

After lunch, my hair!... that took so long to grow after SPM, has been cut! T.T Anyway, the rest of the day basically was free time. And tomorrow, all activities shall start. :S

And now, I have completed 1 month of NS, and I must say, my views of PLKN has changed COMPLETELY from the first day I stepped in it. I'm actually beginning to enjoy it. The fun activities will be starting after semester break, and I am looking forward to some of it.

But alas, decisions have to be made to. To study or not to? And, I've decided to get out by May 10th to study. A right decision? I hope.