STOMPed

The team went out to see the production of STOMP yesterday. It was great! I loved it! Out of the 8 people in the team, 3 of us where late so we kind of missed the first performance (we were able to watch it on the TV outside the theatre though). I also felt sorry for all the people we had to disturb to get to our seats as the show didn’t really have a bonafide intermission.

In any case, we got to our seats and began to enjoy the show. But the guy in front of me was pissing me off a bit. He would always lean forward in the most inappropriate time blocking my view of the show! I mean what difference does a couple of feet make when you are still a couple of hundred feet away from the stage?! At first I would just lean forward too or look at the side, but then it was really bothering me after a time. So I told him off to sit tight and enjoy the freaking show! (Just kidding, I was diplomatic on how I said it). All throughout the show, he would lean forward a bit then settle back to his chair. What was wrong with this guy? Does he have a finger up his ass? It was really annoying, but at least he was mindful of me and I got to see the show better.

Now on with the show! Well, it is definitely a must see, especially with friends who are into music (specially percussions) and/or theater arts. The actually had a “cast” with certain members acting out a particular persona.

They started out with simple beats and “soft” sounds, something light for the audience to digest. They used a whole range of different “instruments” including their body parts. My favorite would probably be the use of Zippo lighters. It was awesome! They turned out all the lights and they started lighting and clicking the lids of the lighters. All you see are the flashes of sparks and tiny flames accompanied by a variety of sounds. Simple yet awe-inspiring.

The music reminded me of Joe Satriani or Liquid Tension Experiment and those instrumentals only groups. They had some good, fast beats that make you wanna jump or do something other than sit on that chair. They even had the audience do some claps, stomps, and finger snapping to participate in the show. The crowd was really worked upped about it too. Too bad it had to end, but at least they ended in style. They picked a great exit song with Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, which had a great drum intro. Although some might argue about choosing another song with good drum beats, it went pretty well with the ambience of the place/set.

Unfortunately, I was not able to take photos during the performance as I was enthralled by the sights and sounds. I also noticed that no one was actually taking pictures, I figured it was prohibited. As they say, "When in Rome...". These are the only photos I took, sorry.

the ticket


end of the show


Needless to say, being a frustrated drummer (and musician as a whole) I truly enjoyed the performance. I somewhat envy these guys being pretty damn good percussionists.

I want to go to war!

I miss gearing up. I miss the donning my BDU, blousing my pants and the feel of zipping up my boots. I miss wearing my boonie hat. I miss the feel of my head in a balaclava.

I miss brimming magazines full with ammo. I miss loading up my vest and hydration pack.

I miss slipping on that 3-point sling. I miss my M4 and my USPc. I miss the feel of the retractable on my cheeks. I miss the feel of the clicks on the selector switch. I miss the feel of full auto.

I miss crouching, kneeling and leaning against walls. I miss tactical maneuvers and squad movements. I miss cover fire. I miss saying "Go! Go! Go!".

I miss the words "Mask down, bitch!"

I miss war!

freshly baked

I just love the smell of freshly baked bread in the morning. You can just imagine that pan de sal still smoking hot, with the outside shell slightly crispy and the inside warm and moist.

You almost want to not bite on it too fast to savor the moment of your first bit, but that you know that perfect pan de sal won't last forever. So you take bite after bite, munching it down mumbling sounds of satisfaction.

I am not a bread person (I actually don't eat a bonafide breakfast), but the smell makes me think of what I have been missing every morning.

Military Organization

I have not been to war in the longest time, and JM suggested that buy some war books to keep me from going crazy. He also suggested learning military “strategy and shit” so that we can apply it when I go back home.

I am all for reading and learning more about military tactics and troop movements to improve my game, but I am a bit reluctant to taking on a leadership role with the troops. Mind you, I am not shying away from leading troops into battle and I highly value the leadership skills and traits that I may acquire during these exercises. It is just that I do not feel ready for the task as yet.

I’ve taken on the squad leader role when playing games like Close Combat series and Full Spectrum Warrior and I’ve gotten a lot of good soldiers killed or injured unnecessarily.

It was agreed upon by my squad mates that we would be rotating the commanding role in the field. This is a good way for exercising the necessary skills we all need as a leader and improve ourselves as an operator. But despite that arrangement, we have identified key positions that we would be “assigned” to, based on our personal disposition and interests.

Bernard will be our designated sniper.
JM will be the support/heavy gunner.
Verchie will be the assault rifleman.
That leaves me to be the squad leader (plus whatever firepower I can bring: rifleman or designated marskman).

Bernard is the loner type, JM just wants to “git some” and Verchie just assaults everything he sees, which leaves me as the "level-headed" guy coordinating all this firepower. Oh boy, I guess it’s time to read all the military doctrine I’ve stashed on my laptop.

Singapore Safari

We took an early day off last Friday to go to Singapore's Night Safari and put the stress levels down a bit from work. We hung out at one of the bars near the office and some of us had a few beers before heading out. There's nothing like a couple of free Corona's to start your early weekend.

Our group consisted of 5 people so we split into 2 groups, with me ending up with the project director. We had a good chat with regards to our history in the company goes, some of the current events happening and where the company will be going in the following years (and where we see ourselves in it as well).

We arrived a bit early for the night safari, bought our tickets and had a quick dinner (all
a part of company expenses mind you). Then off we went! There were a few "rules" set for the safari and these were:

1. No laser pointers or flashlights
2. No flash photography
3. Keep all extremities within the tram
4. Don't touch or feed the animals

I knew I was screwed when I heard the no flash photography rule. True enough, I had no good photographs of the animals we saw, which was a whole lot! Funny thing is you could see the animals quite well with the lights setup but I guess the lights were carefully chosen for human eyes while not interfering with the natural behavior of the animals. Imagine a full moon type effect. Therefore no picture evidence for me.

We saw elephants, tigers, lions, all kinds of birds, hippos, deer, all the things you see in Discovery Channel and more. Some of them where as close as a couple of meters away, while the big ones where around 20 or so meters, as close as you could get I suppose. There where also trails where the animals where just above you or a few feet in front of your face! Of course, you were highly discouraged from touching or feeding them.

Then we went to the "Creatures of the Night" show. It was great! We were all seated in an amphitheater and the showcased some wonderful animals. A barn owl flying overhead us barely made a sound! Some kind of a cat that was able to jump 10 feet into the air, and a whole bunch of furry little animals.

There was a whole bunch of walking during the night, and it made me wish that I brought along (and wore) my MARPAT pants! Hehehe. The place was huge! It was a real jungle, with streams, rolling terrain, trails, roads, and of course "wild" animals. I was already imagining myself patrolling the trails, watching out for enemy troops....

post script

Based on the comments on my previous 2 posts and various YM conversations, I believe I need to clarify certain points.

The first post was not intended to "fish" for compliments amongst my limited, yet avid readers. I simply wanted to share the fact that someone (who shall remain nameless to protect the integrity of the post and person involved) appreciates the words I have chosen to be written on my blog.

Although I admit that nowhere in the post do I acknowledge the praise bestowed upon me and my blog, it does not necessarily mean that it was not whole-heartedly felt and appreciated on my behalf. As a post note (but not an after thought), I would like to say "Thank you" to the aforementioned person. You know who you are and I do hope you know how I feel about your comment.

Now with regards to the second post... I am not gay. Nor do I have any inclinations to being gay. And I have nothing against our homosexual brothers (or sisters... whatever floats their boat hehehe). You may say that I am a bit more in touch with my feminine side that most guys, or that I appreciate what the opposite sex thinks or feels on some things. I just hope this "sometimes sensitive guy" approach gets me some hot chicks!!! hehehe

BDUs

Today, my officemates and I went to the mall beside our office for lunch. As we were walking towards the foodcourt we passed by some women's clothing shops. One of the model mannequins caught my eye and I distinctly had the following thoughts:

"That top looks nice, but I don't like the skirt at all.... jeans maybe". Coupled with imagining the combination mentioned.

No!!!! What the hell was that? I have no idea where that came from...

insights

I envy those who where able to write down what they wished to convey in such a short and eloquent manner. It seems to me that their words just flow naturally from their heads to the keyboard, I on the other hand take up a significant amount of space for my blog entry. I never considered myself as a good writer or a speaker, although I have shown some moments of genius hehehe.

I was chatting with an old friend of mine (whom I haven't seen in 7 years) and she mentioned she liked (or rather "enjoyed") reading the long entries in my blog. She was pleased to have the opportunity to read about the things happening in my life and in getting an insight to another side of me (the wardude side). And she was particularly impressed with how Icomposed
my entries, saying that it was how writers would put it.

That comment was a real heart-warmer, although I must admit that takes me a certain amount of time to compose my words hehehe. I still don't consider myself a good writer and I still envy those who make short, concise blog entries... but at least I know now that my blog entries are appreciated.

leave no man behind

When I came back from Pakistan, I kinda felt left behind on what was happening back home. It was probably because I didn't have time to get settled in with all the preparations for my next trip.

In any case, I am out of the country yet again and I fear I will fall behind even more. Mind you I was only away for a total of 2 months last time, and I won't be coming back until just before Christmas this time around.

"hello... is it me you're looking for?"

I've been using Hello to post my pictures in this here blog of mine. And apparently there are a group of people trying to promote the use of it. They even have their own website, and to my surprise someone posted a link to my blog! Check it out below.

http://www.spreadhello.com/2005/08/hello-snapshots.php

I feel honored :P

eye candy

I arrived here in Singapore yesterday for another assignment. Unfortunately it was raining a bit hard on the way to the apartment so I only got a glimpse of the beauty of this place (according to those who have been here previously). And spent the day settling down and having dinner.

Earlier, I had lunch with my officemates in the mall next to the office. I can say that I am looking forward to the next 3+ months I will be here. I was never attracted to the Chinese-looking women folk back home, but Singapore may change me in that regard. There are a whole lot of cute/hot/sexy women here! (I don't want to use the term "girls" as I might be mistaken for a pedophile)

From no chickababes in Pakistan to the entire chicken coop here in Singapore, you might say I am a bit wide eyed right now. I may need to come up with a new strategy in the next few days hehehe.

not leaving on a jet plane

I should be sleeping soundly at around 30,000 feet right now. Or playing around with the in-flight entertainment system or eating breakfast... I don't know, all I know is that I am still in Pakistan.

I will be taking care of this in a few minutes and hopefully get the next plane out of here.

SPL Forces

A little over a week ago, a received a surprising instant message from my boss. She asked if I would be ok to fly to Singapore by September 5. I did some quick computations and found out that I would be flying off to Singapore not one week upon my arrival from Pakistan!

After getting some quick information regarding the new assignment and giving it some thought, I said yes. Then it hit me... it's just like being in the Special Forces! (SF teams) I just realized some similaries between our company and the Special Forces. Naturally that put a big smile on my face.

Here's why:

1. Sheer Numbers
SF soldiers are highly specialized soldiers with the necessary skills and experience to be able to conduct various missions "downrange" (military term for being in the field). Recently our company has experienced a boom of sorts of projects from all over the globe, and are trying to allocate the proper personnel with the skills and experienced to be assigned to projects that require people on-site.

2. Maintain relationships
An SF soldier's job "downrange" is not just to provide support in terms of firepower, but also to aid in fostering the relationships with the locals and gain their support. And in the business world, this also holds true. Build a reputation of excellent customer service and your business will thrive on existing and numerous potential customers.

3. Mission variety
SF team missions vary from training governments to conducting military operations in enemy territory to peace time operations. As a software development company, our work also has a similar variety from product training to development to support.

4. Theaters
This one takes the cake in my opinion. During military operations (a war or conflict has arisen or even just during training exercises) the area of operations is termed as a "theater", with commanders controlling (or trying to) whatever happens in that area. Recently our company (well, at least in our office) has used the term to divide the areas of the globe in which we have clients. So we have the Americas theater, EMEA theater, and the APAC theater.

5. Location, location, location
SF soldiers have basically operated on all the continents of globe (except Antarctica) and to the most exotic places in the world. Over the past few years, our company has also sent people to a few locations around the world from various states in the US, Mexico, UK, Ireland, Holland, South Africa, Cyprus, Israel, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.

So, I will be back in home base in a couple of days, do some briefings and administrative things to sort out for a couple of days. Then gear up for the redeployment soon after.

chemical warfare

Whenever I get sick or feel that I am going to be, I take some paracetamol in the hopes of getting better but I still end up sick and aching for at least a couple of days before my body's defenses kick into overdrive and get me back to health.

A while ago I felt some pain on my tooth and was becoming more that a distraction, whenever I bite down or massage the area I would feel some pain. Luckily I had some Ponstan (mefanamic acid) with me, but I wasn't really hoping that the pain would subside given my usual experience. I took one as a force of habit or social inclination, I guess. So I forgot about it and went back to work.

Then just realized that the pain was gone even if I bit hard! It really worked!

live fire

I miss live fire exercises. I badly need one to relieve the stress I am accumulating these past few days.

Some pictures of previous live fire exercises I have attended (really long time ago):

me shooting the military issue 1911


VN M16


me and the girls


a few good men

last 100 meters

I am leaving Karachi in a few days time and I am being swamped with work.

In a perfect, normal world the developers here would create their programs and send it to me for review/approval. Of course during this process I would have to answer tons of questions and provide some level of support. However, all I ever did was answer questions and provide tips to developers. I only received a couple of programs to review as of yesterday.

And today they start flooding me with requests to review their work AND answer questions at the same time. Not that I don't wan't to help out but some of their questions are either absolutely ridiculous and makes you wonder how they became programmers, or have been answered previously... multiple times over, and asked the first time I was here.

Mind you I am leaving in a few days, and we have always been saying that my time here will only be a total of 2 months. Allan will be here for 30 days. Allan will be here until next week. Allan will be here until Sunday.

Now they start piling the work on me, talk about a bad case of cramming mentality.

to the fallen...

In any war or conflict, there will always be losses. Although painful and sad, it is a way of life and no amount of tears shall set it back. I know this may come a bit late, but it's nice to remember our friend once in a while.

To all the friends, family and loved ones of Abs I hope you find this poem as comforting as I did.

Ascension

And if I go,
while you're still here...
Know that I live on,
vibrating to a different measure
--behind a thin veil you cannot see through.
You will not see me,
so you must have faith.
I wait for the time when we can soar together again,
--both aware of each other.
Until then, live your life to its fullest.
And when you need me,
Just whisper my name in your heart,
...I will be there.

Used with author's permission

© 1987 Colleen Corah Hitchcock, P. O. Box 390082, Edina, MN 55439

E-mail: missnovel@aol.com Website: www.colleenhitchcock.com

war stories

I just read Verchie's entry regarding the construction of his house and coincidentally I planned to share a war story I heard a couple of nights ago.

As having a client which both a public utility company and is owned by the government, some security measures are to be expected. Now it follows that the security chief would have had military experience to be appointed/chosen for the job, and I believe the main security guy is a retired brigadier general of the Pakistan Army. Naturally guys like this have tons of war stories, one of which was shared to an officemate of mine and subsequently related to me so some of the details of this story may be off by a bit.

In any case, a soldier (don't know his rank) went to his commander (I'm not sure if it was the brigadier or his subordinate) for a few days leave for some reason or other. However, this particular soldier's leave entitlement has been used up completely and the commander couldn't just give him time off. The soldier pleaded, but the commander was adamant in his decision. Seeing to end the conversation, the commander said to the soldier "OK, if you get me an Indian tank... I will give you your leave", knowing fully well that the soldier would be hard pressed to get an enemy tank.

After a few weeks, before the requested date of leave this particular soldier came driving down the road on an Indian tank! Shocked, his commander could do nothing but approve his leave.

Still in disbelief, the commander asked how in the world did the soldier get the Indian tank. The answer... he traded for it!

reload

I had a quick thought of renaming my blog to "The Friction Circle". If you do a google search you might understand what a "friction circle" is.

I first came upon this concept while I was into racing (well, I am still into it), especially karting. And during the times I wanted to start a blog, I wanted to use this title. It is a good concept on its own, can be applied psychologically and sounds cool hehehe.

Anyway, I decided against it as I am not a "racerdude" (as much as I wanted to be) but a "wardude"... through and through.

into the eyes of the beholder

We had a senior manager of my company visiting for a couple of days here on site and invited us to dinner with the IT and project manager of our client. Before proceeding to dinner he wanted to do some shopping for his kids and wife, and as all westerners do when they go to a third world country (I suppose) is to buy some pirated CDs (I think it should be paraphrased as low-cost alternative CDs to be politically correct). Needless to say is that he got a whole bunch of music CDs, DVDs and some software CDs (I couldn't resist getting a couple hehehe).

The area we went to was pretty nice. Nice in the sense that it was "local", not the commercialized malls we city-folk are used to, but more of a bazaar type of thing. A whole lot of traffic buzzing around: people, cars, bikes, buses, and I don't remember seeing a donkey though. The streets were loittered with people selling all kinds of stuff: food, clothes, bags, rugs, scarves, the whole nine yards. Kinda reminds me of the old Divisoria back home.

With all these people going about their business I noticed one girl as we walked towards the CD shop area. It's weird since she was wearing one of those traditional black Arab dresses where you can only see their eyes and I have seen a whole lot of women wearing this. But I was really caught by her eyes, although I only looked into them for at most a couple of seconds. It was beautiful!

I don't know why, maybe because she had on some eyeliner that accented her eyes wonderfully or that by looking just at that area of her face you tend to notice the elegance of flow from the eyes to the bridge of the nose and the cheekbone barely showing from the edge of the cover of her face.

I was two feet away, and could have extended my hand and say "Hi, I'm Allan. Why deprive everyone the sight of your face yet tease them with your eyes?".

That is, assuming she really is beaufiful... hahaha!