Haiz i'm in this "i'm in a pissed off mood but can't do shit about it" situation at the moment. And it's mainly because almost everyone's weekends are about to start at the moment, while mine's about to end. Yep...army people would know..it's SATURDAY GUARD time.
My 2nd time doing it on saturday in my whole NS life, and i've done it on sunday 2-3 times before as well. Weekends? Haha, i can't count that anymore. Not too bad for the average sergeant, i suppose, but it still sucks because this guard came right out of the blue (well..not really, since i knew about it last week) because a fellow sergeant (the one that asked everyone to empty their water bottles on their heads which i mentioned in this blog a long time ago..) enrolled in some external (a.k.a. not related to army) confidence course and so couldn't do any saturday duties until who knows when. 0_o
It isn't really the right thing to do...i've always believed in internal swaps if you can't make it for guard duty - you don't ask the duty planner and get it changed just like that - and if no one wants to swap, you just have to cancel your plans; it's easier on everyone else that way. I still have the right to say it, since i've never initiated a guard swap of any kind as yet (I remember skipping a wedding to do my last saturday duty).
In any case, i'd better brace myself for more, 'cos we've got NINE duties coming up next month, 3 of those weekends. And with only 4 sergeants in the company to spread around..urgh. Talk about a manpower shortage.
Anyway, guard duty really sucks! Your health goes bad from staying up the whole night and your sleeping schedule gets horribly disrupted. It'll be very difficult waking up at 5-7am every day to consume breakfast next month when we have more than one guard duty a week to create a whole company of jetlagged soldiers. And they're trying to get us punished with even MORE guard duty if we fail to eat in the morning! Oh...what irony, what tragedy... :(
Ahwell. So i'll have to wake up tomorrow at 6am to make my way to camp, and then (as guard commander) try to keep awake as much as i can until 8-9am on sunday. And after i reach home and take a shower, which'll be at around 10am, i'll be so sleepy that i'll knock off until around 2.30pm...just in time for driving lessons! And i'd probably have to sleep more after the lesson...and then after dinner it'll be almost time to book in. And there goes my weekend......
Sucks huh. The army really should get those automatic gates that'll make our job so much easier..and get more MPs (military policeman..not members of parliament lol) to man OUR gates as well...i'm pretty sure that there're LOTS of units out there with redundant men who're doing nothing the whole day and who're better off being...well, MPs of course! And THAT way, super-active brigades like ours can focus on doing REAL work.
Anyway, i wanted to write more, but i really need to sleep now, so i'll end off here...goodnight to all!
Well...i haven't posted in a while. Worse still, my tagboard has become pretty stagnant lately for some reason (so has my friendster account, although that's besides the point).
...Actually, it probably became stagnant
because i hadn't posted in a while. Ahwell. Blame it on my blogging mood which usually switches on when i'm AWAY from the computer (and there's actually a
reason for it..i mean, there's just SO many things to do when i have access to the computer! >.<).
But then again, it could also be because my life really is getting quite uninteresting. Other people might be curious to know what's been going on in my life for who-knows-what-reason, but it all doesn't matter because
I find my life so uninteresting that recently i just can't be bothered to blog about it.
I really just want to go to sleep right now, but i'll list down the major things that have happened over the past 2 weeks...
Last week, i had a class outing where we had less than half the class attend. Although that isn't necessarily a bad thing..just a lunch but it was still fun to chat around. We also learnt that day that Ching Tze (JingZe...which one IS his name's spelling??) can HOST DOTA!! Wow important info sia must take note lol.
Last week in camp was also very tough too, although it only lasted 3 days. Was really made to work for my money, and next week is probably going to be slightly tougher. I think 3 Signals IS team is getting it much worse, however. I just hope that they don't think we're being
unsupportive in their time of need...at least some of us are working extra hard to help them.
This weekend, i went to watch Spiderman 3 with the usual bunch. The movie was not bad, just that i suppose the first two were handled slightly better. There were the same old differences between the movie and the spiderman comics/cartoon/novels (eg. the lack of a true "spidey-sense", spiderman is supposed to shoot web by making chemical webshooters, not by making it in his body, Peter Parker is supposed to look less weird than Tobey Maguire sometimes does, etc), the same old angsty issues and relationship triangles and "life lessons" that characterised the first two movies.
But really...WHY THE HELL WAS EDDIE BROCK PLAYED BY TOPHER GRACE??? I thought Eddie Brock was physically more macho, although i don't really care about that. The main thing is that Venom/Eddie Brock was supposed to be a calm and cold fellow, not some emotional and comical skinny-kid who suddenly becomes wacko.
(SPOILERS WARNING) And this may not be the case (hopefully), but i REALLY hope that Venom didn't really die at the end of the movie; that, despite how it looked, he had survived that explosion Spidey had thrown at him. I mean, Venom has always been this villian who somehow manages to survive at the end of every episode and comic chapter. In the novels and comics, he eventually decides to become a super hero in his own fashion (eg. he'd want to kill Lizardman although Spidey wants to protect him, but they'd exchange information and help each other out when other villians come to town). He'd try to kill spiderman in his free time, but would always put the hatred aside when it mattered. To me, he's as much a part of the Spiderman world of my generation as Spiderman himself is, so I REALLY HOPE HE DIDN'T DIE!! (END OF SPOILERS)
Well, after the movie, i went to goat's place with chinhow where we were drowned in steak and alcohol. Lol. Goat's family members're pretty nice and funny people, and i'm not saying it because i was
bribed or anything hahaha. Of course, my own family is more funny, but losing to my family is quite expected lah LOL..XD
Besides that, the rest of my free-time was spent the same way as usual...anime-anime-dota-driving. Haiz.
Anyway, i bought a queen-sized bed for my room! The frame's quite cool although it was quite a steal at $600 (reduced to $400 after buying the mattress). Managed to learn a lot after shopping for beds for 2 weeks as well, so i've decided to post what i've learnt here on this blog! I'm too lazy to differentiate between fact and opinion, however, and figures shown here are mostly estimates, so believe the stuff i've written at your own risk, and don't come to me telling me that i've got mistakes in my post yadayadayada...
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR IN A MATTRESS...Frame: There're quite a lot of things to learn when it comes to shopping for bed frames...for example, is it made using PVC or real leather? Microsuede or suede? Paneled wood or solid wood? Does it have a solid board backing or does the mattress rest on a series of wooden planks? Are those wooden planks polished or not? Is the material for the bedframe stitched together or simply stapled? Frame prices can vary a lot based on these factors (not to mention famous brands and designer brands). I've seen frames go for between $200 to $1200...try to get a frame that fits your bedroom and pay extra for a solid board backing if you need to.
For the mattress, there're also many types to choose from...
At the very bottom of the price range are the
foam mattresses which i didn't know the price of...simply because they're so out of date that no one's bothered to sell them anymore. 0_o
Then there are the regular
spring mattresses, the ones used in the army these days, which can cost between $100 to $800, depending on size (single, super-single, queen, king) and quality (mostly based on brand name - Simmons/King Koil compared to some dumb brand). Normal spring mattresses tend to creak a bit after a while, are supposed to be flipped every few months, and they aren't recommended for couples because the movements of one partner on one side of the bed will be felt by the other partner on the other side.
After that, there's the
pocketed spring mattress. Just like spring mattresses, except without the creaking part. Your partner won't really feel you shifting about too. There're lots of different types of pocketed spring mattresses, like "flip-free" mattresses and mattresses with new spring technology and mattresses with "back support" and all kinds of rubbish. Depending on size and quality, pocketed spring mattresses can cost between $600 to $1700.
Then, there's the
combo mattresses (my own name for it), in other words, pocketed spring mattresses with stitched on memory foam or latex tops/paddings. These cost between $1200 to $2800, depending on the thickness of the padding and whether it's memory foam or latex. And memory foam and latex have their own range of standards as well. You can also buy a separate mattress padding for $200 upwards and just place it on top of your pocketed spring mattress (and wrap it all up in your bedsheet of course) for ALMOST the same feel. Just take note that the mattress will become super-thick, which might look bad on the wrong bed frame.
Next, are the full
memory foam mattresses. Memory foam mattresses are characteristically soft and molds itself to fit your body shape, reducing the occurrences of backaches when you wake up in the morning. I wouldn't recommend it for those who sleep in warm environments, however...it fits your shape so well that it collects quite a bit of heat at your back, translating to a bloody SWEAT PATCH the next morning if you don't sleep in an air-conditioned room. These mattresses go for around $1900 to $3000, depending on size and quality.
Finally, there are the
mattresses with latex technology. These are the mattresses that give you the ultimate GOD-LIKE feeling...soft yet springy and bouncy unlike memory foam mattresses. When you lie on one, you feel indescribably
shiok. I've seen one sell at $2999 (queen sized). I've laid on one which cost $3999 (also queen sized) and i didn't feel like getting up. And i'm pretty sure that there're some which cost more than $4000.
There's also something to factor in when you are buying your bed...extensions. Granted, the average height of guys in Singapore is 170cm and it's definitely less for girls, but SOME PEOPLE ARE QUITE A BIT TALLER THAN 175CM!! I'm around 177-178cm tall, and on a 6feet 3inch long mattress (which is the standard length in Singapore) my toes stick out by about 2 inches. Doesn't seem to add up, mathematically, but your head isn't right at the end of the bed when you sleep, and your feet are usually placed at an angle.
In any case, feet sticking out of a bed is quite uncomfortable and potentially
ugly, so taller people should consider getting a frame like mine, which "adds inches" *er hem* OR getting a bed extension. What happens is that the store would order a custom mattress that is 3-6 inches longer, which would then take a few weeks to deliver. 3 inches longer (in other words, 6feet 6inches) is, by the way, the default "American-sized mattress".
One thing to note, though, is that the extension WILL cost extra money. Stores usually extend mattress length for 15% of the mattress's price (which would add up to a lot if you get an expensive mattress). Of course, the bed frame would have to be lengthened, too, so that the mattress would fit, and that would also cost an extra 15% of the bed frame's price. Dunlopillo's outlets do it for 20% the original cost (cheapskates!! >.<).
You must also decide by how much to lengthen the mattress. Some stores only allow a 3 inch increase, and unless you REALLY need it to be more than that, i suggest you stick to that 3 inches, because buying bedsheets to fit it would be much easier..at least 6feet 6inches is still quite a common length for mattresses.
Personally, i bought a pretty high-end pocketed spring mattress which cost $1400. I'll get one with latex technology, though, if i ever become freaking rich.
Anyway, it took me 2 whole weeks of fretting (and 2 more weeks - before that - of idle browsing) before i finally decided on a mattress to get. I hope reading this will shorten THAT time for you when the time comes for you to get a new bed.
...But don't blame me if this guide makes you fret even MORE instead.
