Urgghhh!

One thing I have to say about many Singaporeans that I have not been wanting to say for such a long time.

Today's the last straw.

You whole lot are just so kiasu.

Can't you just wait for those in the MRT to step out first before moving in?

Are you just so tired that you have to squeeze and shove your way in to find that empty seat?

Those folks in Bangkok and Japan can teach you a thing or two about social graces and patience.

Happenings...

It has been a while.

Haven't really had the opportunity to pen down what has happened lately.

It has been relatively eventful for the past couple of weeks.

Had a taste of real-time action when I was activated late at night last week, just before my bed-time, to assist and learn something in the course of an accident investigation.

I am not masochistic(or then again, maybe I really am..)but the idea of staying up around the clock, fuelled just by adrenaline, helping to work on something and learning many things in the process, appeals to me.

Well, maybe just for a couple of days because anything more would be simply madness.

And it was during this occasion that my inadequacies were surfaced, maybe not for all to see, but maybe to those to whom it mattered.

Been on the job for just a couple of months and my level of professional knowledge still needs a lot more tweaking to reach acceptable levels.

That aside, the past couple of days has seen a couple of assignments coming in at work.

Time for more action.

Step aside everyone, 'cos I'm coming through.

The past week had been rather eventful.

Just got older by another year and marked the event with a nice, memorable weekend spent with her.

It's a weekend and a birthday I will definitely never forget.

The work week started off on a pretty high note and I had no inkling of what was to come the next few days.

Then came the call from my boss.

"One of our aircraft crashed."

Not again, I thought.

The second incident in less than a year.

A good thing it was a pilotless model and there were no casulties.

So began a series of investigations.

I must say I learnt quite a fair bit from this incident, flipping through page after page of manuals and data from past incidences in an effort to have a better understanding of the aircraft.

Nothing learnt without adversity, some may say.

Still have this feeling of inadequacy whenever others sought my opinion on certain matters pertaining to this accident.

Not knowing how to answer them in the best way possible and trying to find excuses really made me feel bad about myself.

I really have lots more to learn from now on.

No steep learning curves but rather a vertical wall, with nothing but just my brute strength to take me through.

The Only One...

Someone once asked if I was an only child.

I gave a "Yes" response in that kind of defensive oh-how-did-you-know-type of tone.

Were my mannerisms a dead giveaway in terms of my family background? I wonder.

"Well, you kind of treasure your space and your privacy a pretty great deal." Came the response.

Which is to say, I am not open or forthcoming at times perhaps.

While I fully understand the reason why my folks have decided not to give me a younger brother or sister to play with, I still harbour thoughts now, even as an adult, about what it would have been and how different I would have turned out had I not been an only child.

Heck, I guessed I might have had a traumatised childhood, with all the fighting and taunting.

Or maybe turned out more streetwise.

Looking at people around me sharing about the experiences that they have had with their siblings made me realise how lucky and unlucky I am.

No competition for attention from my folks when I was a young, mischievous, cheeky boy and none of the headaches and troubles others experience when dealing with their brothers and sisters.

But yet missing out so much on the camaderie shared between siblings, the encouragement and the alternative bitching outlet only your brothers and sisters can provide.

I know I can't turn back the clock and hope for another sibling.

And it's definitely biologically impossible to request for one now.

But the feeling of having one would have been nice.