IPPT Aftermath

Today was my ippt at maju camp. While my usual standard was a silver with at least 3 points for each station, the only determining factor was the pull up station. Long gone were the days when I used to do 18 pull ups. Sigh... And with the ippt proceedings came certain thoughts. Come to think about it, with the ippt proceedings came lots of thoughts:

Station 1: Pull Ups
"Hey, why is my heart beating so fast when I haven't done anything yet? Am... am I, erm, erm, nervous? Hmmm, nope. Should be... but... but... oh well... am I ner-nervous? OK, face it... I am nervous. Arrrgh! I must not be nervous. Arrrgh!!!"

"Yep, aim for silver... 8 pull ups... yeah man... way to to... 8 pull ups, 8 pull ups, 8 pull ups... etc"

"Chill man... no need to panic. But what if I fail? OK, don't think about it. Don't think about it... Arrrgh, what if I fail??? ARRRGH!!!"

"OK, 8 chin ups. Aim for the moon and you'll land at the sky at least. Aim for the sun, land on the moon. But... OK, no buts. No buts. But... hmmm..."

"OK, here goes..."

"Wait, what is the passing number of pull ups? Is it 6? Man, I can't think well after doing 6 and still hanging on the bar..."

"Can I do one more? Nope, my arm says that it can't do another one"

"Hey arm, could I get you to try to do one more chin up?"

Arm's reply: "Well, I shall give you the feeling that you could possibly try to make me do one more chin up, but I cannot guarantee any results. In fact, you should perish the thought of my doing one more chin up"

"Is it 6? Hmmm, should be 6 right? OK, I think it's 6... I hope it's 6... I'm getting down"

"Quick! The results board! Is it 6?"

"Aha!!! It's 6 =) Yep, yep, I've passed my ippt"

"Hmmm, it's strange to conclude that I've passed my ippt based on one station... but since it's the only thing I could possibly fail, I've passed."


Station 2: Standing Board Jump
"Okay, since I'm on my way to completing my pass in my ippt, bring it on man..."

"Erm, 2 points? That's a D! My goodness... if this goes on, I'll lose my incentive (ie. $100 incentive if it's a high pass). It's a make or break thingy on the next try"

"Jump Glass Cookie, jump! Jump with all your might!"

[During the jump] "I believe I can fly! No, I must fly! FLLLLYYYYYeeeeee..."

"Woohoo! I made it - 3 points. Lalala..."


Station 3: Sit Ups
"Hmmm, last year I only made it to 3 points... let's see... 34 sit ups/min? Oh man... I feel nua after 2 stations..."

"OK, aim for 5 points... but is it worth it? 40 is no joke man... Better hit 5 so that I'll clock enough points for my incentive"

[First 10 sit ups] "Hey man, surprisingly it's no kick. Lalala.. bring it on!"

[Next 5 sit ups] "Oh man, the strain, I can feel the strain..."

[Next 5 sit ups] "Waaah! The strain! Arrrgh, endure, tummy, endure!"

[Next 5 sit ups] "Habes (ie. finished)... any sit ups after 30 would be a nightmare"

[Next 5 sit ups] "OK, it's still manageable, I think, I hope, I suppose, I think, I... arrrgh, whatever...!"

[Next 5 sit ups] "OK, nightmare begins..."

[Next 5 sit ups] "Waaah, pain ahhhh, but must cheong. Hmmm, knowing a nightmare and experiencing a nightmare is soooo totally different. Cheong ahhhh..."

[Before the last sit up after 40 sit ups are done] "Should I do one more? Hmmm, for the last sit up I didn't cup my ears. Just in case the PT (Physical Instructor) disregarded that one as a valid sit up, I'd better do one more. Go, Glass Cookie, you can do it!"

[Last sit up] "WAAAAHHHH, Pull, muscles, PULLLLLlllllllll.... Woohoo... did it! Lalala... ahhh ahhh arrrghhh... p-a-i-n... -.- "


Station 4: Shuttle Run
"Hehe, this should be no problem. But hey, why am I still nervous? This is irritating."

[During the run] "Run, Glass Cookie, run! Scramble, crawl, whatever... RUNNNNN!!!"

"Tada, did it - 5 points as usual"


Station 5: 2.4 km Run
"Yup, with all the running that I've done, the 2.4 km run should be a breeze"

[Within the first 400m] "Oh man, did I think this would be a breeze? I think I thought wrong. My heartbeat's super fast..."

[Within the next 400m] "Waaa... since when was this a breeze? Did I actually think that this would be a breeze?"

[Within the next 400m] "Arrrgh, stitch on the left side. Endure..."

[Within the next 400m] "Arrrgh, stitch on the right side too. Waaa... I don't want to endure. Can I walk? Nope. You can't walk... But I want to walk! Ok, ok, you don't have to run that fast. Just don't walk, okie? OK."

[Within the next 400m] "I want to walk. I want to walk. Walk! Walk! Walk! Walk! Walk! Noooo, I must endure! But... sigh. Oh no, here it comes again... Walk! Walk! Walk! Walk! Walk! Walk! Waaah... God help me endure!!!"

[Within the next 250m] "You know what? I'm going to walk. But hey, it's the last round. Don't walk. But I want to walk! Waaah... heeeeeelllllllpppppp me Lord... Endure, endure..."

[Last 150m] "OK, this is the time to sprint. But I really want to walk. Hmmm, just sprint like your life depended on it. No no, sprint like you're doing to die soon and running is the last meaningful thing that you'll ever do. Choy ah! But, cheong ahhhhhhh"

"I did it! Yay!!!!!! Wheeeeeeee... ack! (ie. End of thoughts due to over-exhaustion after sprinting 150m with increasing speed with each step)"


Disclaimer: I'm not schizophrenic.

Conclusion of the matter: I'm tired... =\

Quirky Spottings Spotted... (Edited)

Once again, the quirks in the land of singapore surfaces again, and this time it's in the eastern eastern region of this island with Nicholas and Matthea...

The What Card?

Interestingly, this Now card produced by you-know-what company actually seemed strange... consider the following:

1. This platinum card looks nowhere near a platinum card other than the word "Platinum" on it. In fact, it's exactly the same template as the food court picture that I posted the other time... Hmmm... perhaps the words in silver was supposed to depict a platinum-like kind of feel to it?

2. Though called the NOW card, you can't get things as soon as now (ie. immediately). Thus, it seemed to suggest delusion? Or worse still... since the words are in black and bold, and the background is in red, it seemed to suggest rage and impatience (ie. "I want it and I will have whatever I want, NOW!!!")?

3. Perhaps with the extrememly simplistic design, it tries to indicate that users can now get nearer to their goal of purchasing their desired items since they're a dollar nearer to their goal? Of course, all these is done by removing any payment required for designing the card =)

4. Or Maybe... just maybe they were trying to promote some meaningful lessons in life? For example, "All that glitters is not white gold (ie. platinum), but just a piece of plastic", and "一寸光阴一寸金" (hence the word NOW, with the label 'Platinum')?

Thanks But No Thanks

Check this out! They company is so considerate towards its customers such that it invites all shoppers to use their lockers to keep their items so as to facilitate shopping. No doubt being more hands-free might cause one to subconsciously purchase more items since he/she may forget one's belongings (and hence the reminder on the notice) and feel that one could carry more stuff... but I think otherwise. This is because at the flip side of this notice is the following...

It facilitates their pockets too... =\

Question Marks???

Well, this quirk left me somewhat thinking about why they do things the way they do. Well, in the case of a fire, which option would one choose? Hmmm, since the two people here may be an inaccurate gauge, check out the following picture, whereby a 1.8 m model (ie. Nicholas) has so kindly volunteered to stand beside the fire hosereel...

If for some reason the hose is jammed, I think even a 2.0 m guy would have problems untangling the hose. And interestingly, I believe a poodle could easily reach the extinguisher. Moreover, with the water pipe going all the way down, horizontal and up, it would decrease the water pressure at the exit of the water hose to a small extent. But then again, there must be some compelling reason for things to be done this way... and as such, the possibilities that I could possibly think of being possible in such an impossible situation is possibly as follows:

1. Based on the trend that kiddos and this generation are growing taller because of good food, they have built the hosereel with the future in mind, with the prediction that humans would reach the height of 3.6 m over the next decade.

2. They were trying to save more space for excessive human traffic in view of the kiasu (ie. afraid to lose out) singaporean mentality, whenever a good deal pops up in this ulu (ie. isolated) part of singapore. And since firemen are supposed to be equipped with all kinds of tools, reaching this height should not be a problem.

3. Since singapore is having their go-green campaign, saving water is also an important aspect. Since a hosereel uses more water than a fire extinjuisher - wait, come to think about it... a fire extinguisher does not use any water at all - placing it at a generally inaccessible height would help to save water in the case of a fire. Hmmm... yup yup. This must be it.

4. Somehow, when the building was first constructed, they might have planned the hosereel to be at this position to facilitate any showers in the hot afternoon on this sunny island =)

5. There was a hidden conspiracy between the engineer/architect/whoever-that-came-up-with-this-planning and ear specialists such that anyone trying to spend lots of time with the dangling hose would be deafened by the bell in the event of an emergency and that the water hose need to be used. With this comes more business for specialists. Hmmm... idea.

6. The engineer/architect/whoever-that-came-up-with-this-planning might have suicidal tendencies, because anyone who planned things this way ought to be shot...

Conclusion: The number and type of quirks lying around never fails to amaze me...

Special thanks to Nicholas for ideas and for spotting two of the quirks in this entry =)

Efficiencies

Yesterday, I paid a visit to N*Dee*C for some yearly check-up and to my amazement, the following happened:

Waiting time before seeing the dentist: 1 hour 20 minutes
Waiting time for the dentist to come upon reaching the room: 10 minutes
Waiting time for payment to be done after the check-up: >15 minutes

Hmmm, total waiting time = 1 hour 45 minutes min.

Strangely, I remember that all the previous visits, though not as long as this one, were actually not too far off from this amount of waiting time. And hence, it can be officially concluded that N*Dee*C is way under-performing with the ar*y as a benchmark.

And with the above comes yet another consideration... It is known that private companies in s****p*r* are very efficiency-driven whereas it is quite the opposite for... well, you know... yet another category of companies. And since N*Dee*C is privatised, going by the rate of efficiency and the flow of this logic, the following may well be the case for our dear N*Dee*C:

Past waiting time (3 years back): 1 hour
Current waiting time: 1 hr 45 mins
Future waiting time: 2 hours 30 mins
Upon acquisition by another (er-hem... non private) organisation: 3 hours 15 hours
Upon acquisition by another quasi-private organisation: 4 hours.

Conclusion: With increasing privatisation comes increased efficiency based on the current rate =)