NTU + CS + TP

The grace of God has really been upon my life for the past few weeks...
1) Appealed entry into NTU! HALLELUJAH! :)
2) Combat Shoot - Marksmen! :)
3) Traffic Police Test - Class 3 license obtained! :)

Let me elaborate...
1) Entry to Nanyang Technological University
I was rejected by them TWICE. Haha. The first time I applied was last year. Due to my lousy CGPA of 3.38, a drop from a glorious 3.93, they didn't even spit in my direction. Haha!

However, this time, we were more adamant. My dad wrote an appeal letter in for my admissions and......the next thing I knew, one of the professors called me quite early on a Saturday morning around 10am.

I was still having breakfast when his call came in. I thought it was some credit card caller or some stupid contractor from Tekong calling me requesting last minute RPL entry for their vehicle......it always happens.

His first line changed my whole morning "Hello, is this Jonavan? This is Professor so & so...forgot his name...calling from NTU regarding your admissions." I almost choked on my french toast. HAHA!

We simply chatted...ok more of a informal interrogation...he asked the standard few questions "Why you wanna go NTU?", "What other courses you applied for in other unis, if any?", "Do you know how well you fair amongst the other applicants?", etc...

I answered all his questions candidly and light-heartedly. However, I wasn't prepared for the next 3 questions...

"Jonavan, I'm gonna ask you a few questions related to engineering. What do you get when you differentiate cos2x?"

I froze...and replied "Whoa, these formulas so long ago. I can't remember already la sir. All my Amaths last time do so many times now forget already sir."
He shot back "But these are the fundamentals of engineering, how can you forget?

I continued justifying why I forget all those stuffs...talk about being in army for so long, told him that all these formulas didn't have a practical use in my microelectronics final year project as the formulas differed.

He finally said "Just give me an answer that you think is most correct."
I gave up. I said "Ok, I think the answer is -sin2x"
He replied "Ok, it is not correct. Do you know you must differentiate the coefficient of the argument in the term?"...He said something like that.
I was "Ooookkkkkk..."

"Ok, now what is the formula for power?"
I was so pissed off. I frantically rummaged my stuff trying to find my old textbooks to get the answer on time...while rummaging, I continued justifying and saying how long all these ago were. I told him "these are just formulas sir! Give me one month to revise no problem one!"

HAHA! He pressed me for the answer. I simply replied "Ok, from memory I think it is P = E / T"

"Ok, good" came his reply. WHOO HOO! I thought...then came another question... -__-"

"Next is ohm's law. What is the ohm's law formula?"

Once again, I said in my defeated but adamant in justifying myself tone "Haha! Sir, all these really long ago la sir..."

He then told me that the formula involved R, V and I. -.-" I KNEW THAT OK!
I then said "Ok, I think the formula is I = V / R"
"Ok good. Ok Jonavan, that's about it. Do you have another other things to tell me?"
I replied "Haha...Do you have any other things you'd like to know about me?"
"Ok then, that's all then. You'll be informed about the outcome of your appeal my post in a week's time."
"Thanks sir!"

The next week...the letter from NTU came in and all I remembered from that letter is "Welcome Onboard!"

HALLELUJAH! :D I've been praying and telling God "Your will be done Lord - be it part time in NUS or full time in NTU. But my preference is FULL TIME IN NTU! And if that coincides with your will, then let it be."

True enough. God is a good God.

2) Combat Shoot (CS)
I was really afraid that I, or rather, we wouldn't get marksmen because marksmanship is a team effort in combat shoot. We shoot as a detail. Total up our detail's score and that will determine whether we get the $200 and get to wear the marksman badge.

In my detail was Andre Too, Elson Ng and Jason Cheng. One by one they told me about their shooting inadequacy and how they always miss targets and all... -__-"

After the IMT (Individual Marksmanship Trainer), it turned out that I was the worst though. HAHAHA!

But of course, on the actual shoot, I was the 2nd best :) LOLS. I missed a total of 4 shots.

Jason missed 2 shots...and the rest missed like 5 - 8 shots individually. But that didn't stop us from attaining marksmanship! :)

The awesome thing about this shoot is, we really got to know each other. Haha. The day shoot ended around 1pm+. So we all had to wait for nightfall to commence our night shoot.

In that span of 5hours+, the standard SAF soldier will...sleep in the training shed. Haha. But not my detail and Louis.

Oh, there's also Louis, my colleague. He's shooting his ATP (Advanced Trainfire Package). He's a really nice, soft-spoken, shy and cutesy (in a small boy-boy way) kinda guy.

So yup, while waiting for nightfall, we played Monopoly Deal for that 5hours! HAHAHA! Over the game we talked about our jobs, talked about our bosses, talked about our lives, talked about Louis' & Jason's girlfriends...HAHA!

Had a lot of fun. It felt like some chalet outing...playing, chatting, laughing, etc...just that we were all in green and have rifles to take care of. Haha.

Yup, thank God for the $200! :)

3) Traffic Police (TP) driving test!
The previous test I unexpectedly failed. Why? Because the tester was all quiet and didn't comment much...so I thought my driving was awesome. Little did I know that it was too rabak that he got nothing to say...HAHA!

For this test, I thought I will most definitely fail. Haha. Why? Because the tester kept scolding me! Haha.

The moment I did my first lane change, came the barrage of comments. He was like "Young people like you  ah, only know how to accelerate. Change gear also never change appropriately. So scared to pull your leg of the accelerator. Like that how to become driver?"

He then angstily asked "Tell me how to reduce speed of the car?"

My quick, confident reply came "Switch to lower gear and use engine brake. After that brake."

He then sighed angstily "See. Young people like you only know how to use brake. How to be driver? Give me this type of stupid answer. Don't know what you are talking."

I was quite pissed already...almost sweared at him. HAHA! But I replied in a more frustrated tone "Correct what. You slow down use engine brake first ma."

He then retorted "See, you all young people only know how to step on the accelerator. To reduce speed you just have to release the accelerator what! Aiyoh! How to be driver like that?"

I kept quiet. I knew my license was on the line. Haha! I wanted to tell him "when you use engine brake of course will release accelerator what. Understood what. Where got people change gear while stepping accelerator one?"

Anyway, I just kept quiet smiled and laughingly said a "Oh ya."

Oh, what a good actor I am. Should go try for Hollywood or at least Mediacorp. Lols!

He continued ranting and scolding me all the way back to CDC. Even when we left the car and proceeded to the room to get my results he was still lecturing me. -__-"

I already saw myself walking to the CDC counter renewing my PDL, booking my next TP and my next few refresher driving lessons. All hope was lost.

HOWEVER, as we were walking to the room for my results he made one statement which made me smile..."You drive like that, can pass la, but damn dangerous know?"

He said "CAN PASS LA." Those 3 words hit the HOPE button in my heart and all the images of me renewing my PDL vanished. Haha.

We sat down, he continued ranting and telling me where my mistakes were while my results were in his hand. He kept it from my view and continued talking for a good 5minutes before showing it to me...

"Nah...Still must improve your driving ah!"

I could not contain the smile that just involuntarily grew on my face. I was beaming...partly due to the glare of my braces...HAHAHA!

I walked down to the admin services centre, passed my results slip to the instructor. He looked at it and asked me "The tester got scold you a lot not?"

I was like "Whoa, how you know?"

He then replied in a half-joking, half-truthful way "The more the tester scold you, the higher your chances of passing."

I laughed. He laughed as he selected the option "PASSED" on my online profile in the system. :)

All in all, I spent around $2000+ to get my stupid driving license.

Overall, I had like 37 lessons...because I failed once. Haha.

My advice is...DON'T GO SCHOOL! GO PRIVATE! Let me expound on it...

a) Lessons have to be booked a month or more in advanced. If you're late, all the slots are booked. Like now, it's end June and the September slots are already fully booked!

Super inflexible...and you don't get a fixed instructor unless you sign up for one-team which costs like $12 more per lesson? Or $10 more? I can't remember.

b) 1 driving lesson - 100 minutes costs $70 after 5pm and $60 before 5pm. The average private instructor market rate is $35 - $45 per hour. Multiply it by like 20 lessons and see the cost savings.

c) Travelling to the school. Most of my friends who take private driving lessons have their instructor fetch them from home and send them home after the lesson.

The only good thing about school is...you get comprehensive driving lessons...They make you do U-turns like 20 times before allowing you on to the next module...Haha.

Yup, anyway, VRROOOMMM VROOMM LO! :)

And of course, ORD LO!! :D In a week's time...haha...Ok, fine, it's a temporary ORD. I'm disrupting ok?

Haha. Praise God for his awesome hand of grace and mercy on me! Love you Jesus! Deep deep! :)