The Rejection, The Drama, and The Offer

I'm not going to Novice Cup. I've been wanting to go for quite sometime but the university admin says that I'm not eligible. Well, they're right, I'm not a UiTM Sarawak student anymore. I am no longer a student wearing the tag "Diploma in Quantity Surveying" anymore. Well, speaking about Novice Cup, I was supposed to find juniors to join through hosting a mini tournament but the whole thing got pulled off cause lack of participation. So with the remnants of people who were actually hyped about it, I took them onto a different course instead. You see, the period where I was supposed to be handling the mini tournament, I was also supposed to be the MC of UiTM's Drama Night. Then my debate unit president gave the craziest of craziest ideas to join the drama competition in just less than 2 days and boy was it crazy, those 2 days. Just writing and getting ideas after brainstorming in 2 hours, we managed to pull it off and got 2nd.

The team who did it. Jeff was a last minute addition as the dude controlling the lighting and sound effects.

Me playing the bartender and Hamaz & Moon playing a "Bonnie & Clyde" influenced character. Moon's blog: http://fos92.blogspot.com/

Tina as the "soundtrack" and Mirul who became the narrator/mob enforcer. Mirul's blog: http://syedamierulasyraf.blogspot.com/

The people who made it happen. Couldn't do it w/o them. (Oh yah, Ben played a mob boss who I owed money to in the story)

Picture credit to Black (Raymond @ Rahman Sallehin, see his blog here)

Here's a short synopsis of the story:

BAD INTENTIONS: Jericho owns an unregistered eatery/bar at the Sarawak/Kalimantan border. Being the turbulent border it is, gangs ask for protection money from people like Jericho. This has made Jericho extremely pressured, after fed up being harassed by the gangsters. This made him kill a drunk lady named Fiona after listening to Jericho's deal with the mobsters. His fate falls in the delicate balance when a mysterious lady named Mellisa who is trying to find her sister and 2 fugitives who are trying to run away from the cops enters his bar. 

It was a loose adaptation of an old "western" I wrote 2 years back, 11:35 in El Paso. I was surprised the judges actually understood the story cause while the other dramas went for the musical route, our team instead took different approach and did a non-linear crime story instead. I was channeling Quentin Tarantino in myself. Haha. Some of my gun props broke into pieces but it was worth it. Gun props could be bought but sweet memories with friends like this could not be bought.

All that happened on the 3rd March if memory serve right and in the spirit of non-linear story telling, on the 2nd also my degree application result came out. It was the 1st time we were training on stage and I just realized I did not get any degree offer. Depressed was the right adjective to describe me at that time and I had to handle that drama thing (which we only had 2 days, well practically 2 and a half day to practice and come up with one.) So I did my "rayuan" by writing a letter to my Rector and did an online "rayuan." Then what do you know, voila! On the 21st I got an offer to do Law in UiTM Shah Alam. I felt as if I was dreaming. I got something I wanted and I really need to this right. I have spent the pass 3 years learning about QS  during diploma but now I'm entering Law! It's just surreal. Just hope I don't mess up this time (Which I promise myself I won't).

Just so bloody surreal. So glad this happened. See you in Law-Fac.

Keith Thompson's Art

Many years ago, I saw these books like "How To Draw Sci-Fi vehicals" or "How To Draw Fantasy Creatures" in bookstores like MPH. I never bought them cause the books were hellishly expensive for a student like me and my campus library has a copy. I normally hang out at the art/architecture section library to check out the cool stuff and the books I mentioned just now were probably some of the best bunch. Here are some of the artwork of the man who illustrated the book, Keith Thompson:

The Plague Cart

Manually Assisted Cyborg

To check out more, you may visit his website here.

8th Commando Kandak, Afghanistan

Last December, the American military just withdrew their forces from Iraq, leaving the country to be independent. Now plans for pulling out of Afghanistan is rumored to be on the 2014. It's still a long time away but it's good time for the Afghans to get hold of training from the Americans and go through the mess done the Americans themselves. At least get them to train after having "fun" there.

The following are photos of the Afghan Army's 8 Commando Kandak (Kandak means Battalion in Afghan.)

Members of coalition special operations forces conduct a clearance of a compound during an operation in Akhtar village, Arghandab district, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Jan. 11. Coalition SOF partnered with the 8th Commando Kandak to clear the village of insurgent activity and ensure regional security.

Members of coalition special operations forces conduct a security patrol in Akhtar village, Arghandab district, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Jan. 11. Coalition SOF partnered with the 8th Commando Kandak to clear the village of insurgent activity and ensure regional security.

Members of the 8th Commando Kandak patrol in an alleyway during a clearance operation in Akhtar village, Arghandab district, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Jan. 11. The commandos partnered with coalition special operations forces to clear the village of insurgent activity and ensure regional security.

A member of the 8th Commando Kandak rests during a clearance operation in Akhtar Village, Arghandab district, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Jan. 11. The commandos partnered with coalition special operations forces to clear the village of insurgent activity and ensure regional security.

Click the pictures for better resolutions. It looks blurry here for some reason but it's actually pretty hi-res. Again, thanks to V03303 from MP.net for compiling the photos. I wished the Americans actually gave them the old Chocolate Chip uniform they used during the Gulf War rather than BDU. They really like to mess up uniforms don't they?

Unit Tindakan Khas (Old Magazine Scans) + A CS Model of GGK

Here's an old magazine article scans I got a long time ago. I'm not so sure who shared it with me or even where I got it but I think so I should share it to the rest of the world. If you know the source of the article, please inform me in the comment section below. The article is concerning Unit Tindakan Khas's training by a former British Officer before the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

Click on the thumbnails for a bigger view.

Aside from that, here's some stuff I made a few years back after "cleaning" the computer of unnecessary file. It's a skin texture I did for my Counter Strike Models a while back when I wanted to play as a Malaysia Spec Ops instead of the French GIGN or British SAS. It works with Counter Strike 1.6 and above. Works for Condition Zero as well.

Notice the Malaysian Flag, the GGK patch and the Malaysian Zebra Woodland Uniform?

Ok, this one I did it as a joke as in what if PLKN has a CQB course. lol.

Here's the link for the model (The GKK model, I'm still looking for the PLKN one).

http://www.mediafire.com/?jdu5r415a53ihfn

Replace the GIGN file in your model folder where you save your Counter Strike files. Make sure you make a back up of your model and if you to play online, make sure your friends copy the file into theirs so that they can see it. Have fun and enjoy.

US Army Changing their uniform again?

In the past I've posted about the Multicam and how it has worked perfectly. The US Army took the right step forward in choosing the Multicam and made a huge mistake when using the ACU while claiming it was a universal pattern. Let's admit it, it's bad as a universal pattern and only works as a form of camo in urban, mountain range and snowy areas. It only works in rural Afghanistan and fails as a whole in Iraq. When the US Army then decide to go forward with Crye's Multicam, it was an excellent choice. It works from Urban to grassland, the actual Universal pattern that works in all sorts of terrain. Of course it doesn't works so great in snow but it works in much more places compared to the horrible ACU. (For more on the ACU v. Multicam arguments and some of the Marine Corp uniform, click here.) Just take a look at the photos below:

They recently just distributed the uniform to soldiers and now they're developing a new set of uniform. According to MilitaryTimes.com and PEOSoldier.com, the following are the companies researching the new uniform. May as well they just get either Crye or the company that made the Canadian Army CADPAT. They perfected the universal pattern.

1. ADS, Inc. (teamed with Hyperstealth, Inc.) – Virginia Beach, Virginia
2. Brookwood Companies, Inc- New York, NY
3. Crye Precision, LLC – Brooklyn, NY
4. Kryptek, Inc. – Fairbanks, AK
5. Government pattern developed at U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC), Natick, MA

Some the readers of this blog probably has heard of Crye in my older posts about the Multicam. Now, from some research over the internet, some of uniforms do look cool but isn't it too early to move away from Multicam? Some of the designs are pretty interesting, moving away from the digicam most countries try to imitate.

Here's the design by ADS Inc (Some sites say that they're teaming up with GuyCramer but some say it's Hyperstealth Inc, I'm not so sure which correct.) Apparently they're calling the pattern Ghostex (and some variants).

There are more variants of Ghostex here.

I couldn't find any patterns from Brookwood and this is the first time I've heard from the company. For Crye, I believe that they're putting out a variant of Multicam in the running because one of the rules is that the uniform created must not be commercially available before the selection. The one that actually caught my eye after researching is the Kryptek uniform. They actually came up with this new styled of camo that drops the DigiCam style. Their so-called 3D uniform is probably the only one that is bringing something new to table. It looks pretty sci-fi and so far it is satisfying the nerd in me. I can't judge for the moment cause I am yet to see it in an actual environment.

For more info on the Kryptek "3D uniform", visit here.

I'm not so sure about the government owned uniform from NSRDEC but some people in forums actually say it's the original ACU/UCP with brown patches like the one below:

Let's admit it. It's just ACU/UCP in dirt. Plus, you guys are no longer in Iraq anyway.

If the US Army is going to change their uniform, just make sure it's better than the current Multicam. My money is on Crye anyway.

Source(s):
(1) http://militarytimes.com/blogs/gearscout
(2) http://www.ghostex.com/
(3) http://soldiersystems.net
(4) http://www.kryptek.com/leaf/
(5) http://www.ar15.com
(6) http://www.multicampattern.com/

*This is just a civilian's POV. I'm in no way affiliated with any military or military-related companies/research and finally, correct me if I'm wrong on any of the info here.

Comprehending the Universe

I used to study Quantity Surveying but to be honest, I'm not good in it and I lost a huge chunk of interest in it. Now I finished my diploma in it there are some things in the construction industry I will miss but it mostly does not have anything to do with Quantity Surveying. I will miss the goddamn huge cool machines, I will miss the beautiful architecture of majestic buildings but let's be realistic, you don't see shit like that often, even on the job. Mostly you will see a boring piece of machinery, a mundane set of drawings that some architect tried to finish over the weekend, being uninspired. Those beautiful and majestic stuff you see, probably only appeared in Extreme Engineering on the Discovery Channel, cool feats where it more looks like the Quick Build mode in Tropico. Cool stuff like the video below:

Even if I get to work with cool stuff like in QS, at the end of the day, my job is to do the BQ, tender evaluation etc and I'm not interested in those stuff. Leave if to the good and amazing guys out there who understand those objects and has a heart for it. I don't feel that love connection to the construction industry before. Sure, I respect QS out there but I just don't feel me being attached to it like them. Now if I still get QS as my degree after applying after this, I will continue to accept it but I will try to find a way to fall in love with the industry. I used to be in love with the industry when I first started out. Now it just fades away. Most probably the system will shove me back to a Degree in QS.

Who am I to judge? Maybe the universe has plans for me. I hope I can get a degree and make a good living, related to the stuff I love nowadays, like debate, writing etc. Even my friend Paul asked me "Terence, why did you apply for courses that's too far from your original course?" Maybe I'm just being melodramatic, nostalgic today cause I'm in campus library today despite not being a student here. Hanging with my debate friends, having a good time despite them being of different semesters and courses. (Sometimes I feel like quoting something from the sitcom Community because of us constantly gathering in the library, same spot.) I'm back in debate training when I'm supposed to graduate or at least be unproductive at home cause I'm technically "waiting for my results." My passion has moved from construction industry, to debate (and still military stuff, so no worries readers, I will still post military stuff.) Maybe I'm just an immature blockhead who can't make up his mind on what to do as a career. Me, changing lanes will cost me another 4 years of studying. Disturbing, 4 (or 3 years) years spent and yet with a wobbly future.

How's the picture related? It's a drunk "Ghost" from MW2, in a bathtub, while wearing Batman boxers. Kinda like me contemplating. Photo from BeatdownBoogie.com

Let's just see how the universe goes, let's just see. Oh ya, I got Band 5 in MUET today. At least there's something to smile about while contemplating the universes's wave.

Singaporean Army

I always keep a close eye on the military forces near my country. I've always observed Singaporeans due the sophistication of their army. At one point, I even read their army's newsletter to see for new photos of their military. One thing that interest me the most about their current army is their digital woodland camo. They're probably the 1st South East Asian army to use the camo. I've been meaning to get a pair for myself for quite some time. I saw it at a bundle near my place not so long ago. Here are few very recent photos of them, taken this Saturday by Cyberpioneer.com

Singapore Army Recruits from Taurus and Falcon Companies undergoing their Basic Military Training – 6^th January 2012


Photos: Cyberpioneer

Singapore Army Recruits from Kestrel Company undergoing basic field craft training during their Basic Military Training – 6^th January 2012

Photos: Cyberpioneer

Thanks to VOR033 of MP.net for compiling the photos above.

The digicam used by the Singaporeans now is the 3rd evolution of their uniform. It blends in much more better compared to their older uniform which was similar to the US Army Woodland BDU. Another thing I like about the Singaporean Army is that they are using their own rifles, the SAR21. Done with a bullpup design, it uses the 5.56mm round, similar to the ones used by M16/M4s. Too bad it isn't a 7.62 rifle. Below is a photo of the evolution of their uniform and a video on SAR21.

Photo from Singaporean MINDEF