Friday, December 31, 2004

It's new year's eve. This year there will be no count-down ceremonies because of the tsunami incident. Anyway, I'm sure the popular places will be jampacked. So, for tonight: Song Salueng and maybe Slim/Flix at RCA late at night.

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Last working day of the year 2004. Just completed my last flight this year. Going back home in the afternoon. Tarn came visiting her father this morning, have to pick her up for Bangkok.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Just completed XCT05 test for cross-country flight to Chumpon. Not very good but it's a huge relief cause the checker is really scary.

Monday, December 27, 2004

On December 26 there was a huge earthquake in Indonesia and Burma which caused enormous waves or tsunami's hitting surrounding coasts. Provinces in southern Thailand were also affected by these tsunami's. There were thousands of deaths, both tourists and local, and lots are still missing. Let us mourn for those who are victims of the incident.

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Author unknown.


ผู้ชายนับ - 10. ผมเกือบเดินกลับเข้าออฟฟิศแล้วสิ ถ้าไม่เห็นเธอเดินเข้ามา นางฟ้าของผมวันนี้เธอใส่เสื้อสีขาว กระโปรงสีชมพู เธอดูน่ารักเหมือนตุ๊กตาญี่ปุ่นแก้มแดง ผมเดินเสไปเสมาหาอะไรกินอีกหน่อย ทั้งๆที่อิ่มจะแย่แล้ว ทั้งนี้ก็เพื่อเฝ้ามองนางฟ้าเวลาพักเที่ยงของผม อยากรู้จักเธอจัง ทำไงดีหว่า

ผู้หญิงนับ - 0. ฉันสังเกตเห็นเขาตั้งหลายวันแล้วละ คนอะไรก็ไม่รู้ กินเส้นเล็กน้ำเนื้อเปื่อยได้ทุกวัน ไม่รู้จักเบื่อมั่งเลย หน้าตาเขาตลกดีนะ นี่ถ้าเขาจะสร้างหนังโดราเอมอนเดอะมูฟวี ฉันคงจะอี-เมล์ไปบอกผู้กำกับให้มาเชิญพี่แกไปเล่นเป็นโนบิตะ

ผู้ชายนับ - 9. วันนี้ผมตัดสินใจจะแอบตามเธอไปดูว่าเธอทำงานที่ไหน เพราะเธอไม่ใช่พนักงานบริษัทเดียวกับผม แต่ที่แน่ๆกว่าเธอจะลงมากินข้าวก็เกือบบ่าย และกว่าจะกลับก็จวนบ่ายสอง แต่ที่ทำงานเธอคงอยู่แถวนี้แหละ

ผู้หญิงนับ -1. พี่กุ้งชี้หมอนั่นให้ฉันดูแล้วหัวเราะคิกคัก อีตาโนบิตะนั่นเอง! เขาทำเป็นเดินโทรศัพท์ตามพวกเรามาห่างๆสงสัยพี่แกจะแอบชอบใครสักคนในกลุ่มเราแน่ๆ เลย (สงสัยจะเป็นพี่กุ้งแฮะ ก็เธอสวยออกซะงั้น) เอ..เอาเข้าจริงๆอีตานี่มองจากมุมเฉียงๆก็ดูดีเหมือนกันนะ

ผู้ชายนับ - 8. เธอทำงานแถวนี้จริงๆด้วย เธอทำงานอยู่ในสถานทูตแห่งหนึ่งในหลายๆแห่งแถวนั้น แต่เป็นหน่วยงานย่อยเกี่ยวกับวัฒนธรรมและความร่วมมือ และเป็นโรงเรียนสอนภาษาไปในตัวด้วย โรงเรียนสอนภาษาเหรอ... เออเข้าท่า

ผู้หญิงนับ - 2. อีตาโนบิตะถ้าจะเอาจริงแฮะ! วันนี้บุกมาถึงที่เลย มาหยิบโบรชัวร์อะไรให้วุ่นเลย อยากรู้เหมือนกันแฮะว่าแกจะมาจีบใคร

ผู้ชายนับ - 7. พักเที่ยง ผมยังไม่ไปกินข้าว แต่เดินมานั่งกินกาแฟอยู่ที่ Cafe ของสถานทูต รอนางฟ้าเสด็จลงมาเสวยภักษาหาร หัวใจผมเต้นแรงขึ้นเรื่อยๆ.. ที่นี่เขาใช้กาแฟพันธุ์อะไรมาชงเนี่ย เมื่อเธอลงมา คราวนี้ผมจะต้องชวนเธอคุยให้ได้

ผู้หญิงนับ -3. “นีๆพี่กุ้ง อีตาโนบิตะมารอพี่แหนะ นั่งกินกาแฟอยู่ที่คาเฟ่ด้วย “จริงง่ะ! เขาสมัครเรียนอะไรหรือเปล่าอ่ะ..หนิง
“ไม่หรอกพี่เขามารอพี่อ่ะแหละ สงสัยวันนี้พี่กุ้งไม่ได้กินข้าวกะพวกหนูแล้วละ
“บ้า เหลวไหล!!!

ผู้ชายนับ - 6. “คุณครับ ทำงานที่นี่ใช่หรือเปล่าครับผมเดินเข้าไปถามเธอ “ผมสนใจจะเรียนภาษาฝรั่งเศสครับ แต่มีคอร์สไหนสำหรับคนที่ไม่รู้อะไรเลยอย่างผมมั่งไหมครับ

ผู้หญิงนับ -4. อีตาโนบิตะเขาเข้ามาคุยกับฉัน เขาถามฉัน!!! เขามารอฉันหรอกเหรอเนี่ย แล้วอย่างงี้ทุกวันที่เขามอง...ก้อ.... หวาย

ผู้ชายนับ - 5. วันนี้เธอน่ารักเป็นพิเศษขึ้นอีกหลายเท่า แก้มงี้แดงน่ารักเชียว เธอบอกให้เพื่อคนอื่นไปทานข้าวกันก่อน ส่วนเธอยอมเข้ามาคุยกับผมใน Cafe และแจกแจงรายละเอียดเกี่ยวกับการเรียนให้ฟัง

ผู้หญิงนับ -5. พี่กุ้งน่ะสิ ทำขยิบหูขยิบตาให้ฉันคุยกับเขา จะบ้าเหรอ แต่ก่อนที่ฉันจะทันตอบอะไรได้พี่กุ้งก็ชิงบอกว่า “ยินดีค่ะ มีอะไรก็ปรึกษาน้องหนิงได้นะคะ น้องเขาดูแลเรื่องนี้อยู่พอดีค่ะ

ผู้ชาย - ผู้หญิง
“คุณ...เคยเรียนภาษาฝรั่งเศสมาบ้างหรือเปล่าคะ"
“ไม่เคยครับ เอ้อ...ผมชื่อเอกครับ..."
“หนิงค่ะ"
“หนิงทำงานที่นี่นานหรือยังครับ หนิงจบเอกภาษานี้มาเหรอครับ"
“ค่ะ หนิงเพิ่งจบได้ปีเดียวเอง"
“ขอผมเลี้ยงข้าวนะครับ หนิงอุตส่าห์คุยกับผมตั้งนาน อดไปกินข้าวกับเพื่อนเลย"
“อุย อย่าเลยค่ะ ในนี้แพงออก ไว้คราวหน้าดีกว่าค่ะ"
คราวหน้า!!! คราวหน้า ได้ยินกันไหมครับ ท่านผู้ฟัง เข้าทางผมเลย
บ้า!!! ฉันพลาดไปได้ไงอ้ะ
“อ้อ...ก้อ เอ้อ มีค่ะ ... 0 1 6 1 5..."
ให้เบอร์เค้าไปทำไมอ่า... แง้ๆๆๆ
ฉันจิกกระดาษทิชชูในมือจนเละเป็นปุยเหมือนปลาดุกฟู

ผู้ชายนับ - 4. ผมคุยกับน้องหนิง (เธออ่อนกว่าผมสี่ปี) สองสามคืนติดต่อกัน คืนละหลายๆชั่วโมง ตอนกลางวันก็ไปนั่งกินข้าวด้วยกัน แต่ก็ได้แค่นั้นเองง่ะ... พอจวนบ่ายสองก็แยกย้ายกันไปทำงานเคยลองชวนไปดูหนังเธอก็บอกไม่อยากดู ตอนเย็นก็ต้องรีบกลับบ้าน ไปนั่งที่ไหนต่อก็ไม่ได้สงสัย เดี๋ยวกลับบ้านช้าแม่จะดุละมั้ง

ผู้หญิงนับ - 6. พี่ๆ ล้อว่าฉันเป็นแฟนอีตาโนบิตะ เอ้ย! พี่เอก ไม่ใช่ซะหน่อย ก็แค่เพื่อนคนนึง ทำงานอยู่ใกล้ๆ กัน ตอนกลางวันต่างคนต่างก็ต้องกินข้าวอยู่แล้ว ให้เขากินด้วยอีกคนจะเป็นอะไรไป
แต่พี่เอกเค้าคุยสนุกดีเหมือนกันนะ ฟังเขาคุยทีเพลินเลย บางทีนึกว่าคุยแป๊ปเดียว ที่ไหนได้ปาเข้าไปเกือบเที่ยงคืน

ผู้ชายนับ - 3. น้องหนิงน่ารักจริงๆและเธอเป็นนางฟ้าจริงๆเธอช่างมองโลกในแง่ดี สวยงาม และใสสะอาด เสียจนผมละอาย... ผมเริ่มได้คิดว่า ผมเหมาะกับเธอหรือเปล่า ผมสามารถใช้ชีวิตแบบเธอได้ไหม การเลี้ยงดูของเรามันต่างกันเหลือเกิน เธอไม่เคยพบกับความยากลำบากและสิ่งอันชั่วร้ายอะไรในโลกเลย...
ถ้าเธอเป็นนางฟ้าจริงๆส่วนผมน่ะเหรอ เรียกว่าคนเดินดินยังยากเลย เธอเรียนจบจากโรงเรียนสตรีชื่อดัง จบมหาวิทยาลัยของรัฐที่มีชื่อเสียง และเข้าทำงานกับสถานทูต
ส่วนผมน่ะเหรอ... อย่าให้เล่าเลยคุณ ยาว

ผู้หญิงนับ - 7. พี่เอกนี่มีอะไรมากมายกว่าที่ฉันคิดแฮะ พี่เขาผ่านอะไรต่ออะไรในชีวิตมามากมายกว่าที่จะนึกถึง เขาไม่เหมือนใครที่ฉันรู้จักเลย เขาเริ่มต้นจากเด็กเกเรคนหนึ่ง ลองมาหมดแล้วอะไรแสบๆทั้งหลาย เหล้า ยา การพนัน เคยเข้าบ้านเมตตาก็เคย แต่แล้วเขาก็สามารถตั้งใจเรียนจนจบทั้งการศึกษานอกโรงเรียน และเรียนมหาวิทยาลัยเปิดจนจบด้วยตัวเองตลอด และทำงานในบริษัทใหญ่ขนาดนี้ได้ในตำแหน่งและเงินเดือนที่ไม่น้อยทีเดียว
ฉันทึ่งในชีวิตของพี่เขาเหลือเกิน

ผู้ชายนับ - 2. วันนี้ตอนเช้า ผมซื้อดอกไม้ให้เธอ... เพราะรู้ว่าเธอจะมีแจกันใบเล็กๆใส่ดอกกุหลาบน่ารักๆเอาไว้บนโต๊ะทำงานเสมอ แต่เธอรับไปแล้วก็ไม่ว่าอะไรสักคำ... ตอนเที่ยง ผมไปหาเธอที่ห้องทำงานตามปกติ ดอกไม้บนโต๊ะทำงานเป็นดอกเดียวกับที่ผมเห็นเมื่อวาน.... เธอไม่ได้เอาดอกไม้ที่ผมให้มาปักแจกันหรือนี่..
สงสัยดอกไม้ถูกๆช่อเล็กๆซื้อที่สถานีรถไฟฟ้าแบบนี้มันคงจะไม่ถูกใจเธอละมั้ง

ผู้หญิงนับ - 8. พี่เขาให้ช่อดอกไม้เล็กๆกับฉันละ... มันน่ารักจนฉันพูดอะไรไม่ออกเลย แม้แต่คำว่าขอบคุณ
สงสัยฉันต้องรีบไปหาซื้อซิลิก้าเจลมาเก็บดอกไม้นี่เสียแล้วสิ... ไม่อยากให้มันเหี่ยวไปเลย

ผู้ชายนับ - 1. ผมพยายามที่จะยอมรับความจริง ว่าผมกับเธอนั้นแตกต่างกันแค่ไหน...
นางฟ้าก็มีไว้สำหรับคนบนฟ้า...ผมคิด ผมพยายามทำงานให้หนักขึ้น กลับมาสู่โลกแห่งความเป็นจริงเหมือนเดิม และคุยกับเธอให้น้อยลง (หรือถ้าให้ถูก เธอเองก็ไม่ค่อยโทรหาผมสักเท่าไรแล้วช่วงนี�E
ผมจะจำเธอไว้ในฐานะความทรงจำที่สวยงามแล้วกัน

ผู้หญิงนับ - 9. เพื่อนฉันที่ทำงานบริษัทเดียวกับพี่เอกบอกว่า ช่วงนี้พี่เขาทำงานหนักมาก... บางวันสี่ทุ่มก็ไม่ยอมกลับบ้าน มาถึงก็ก่อนแปดโมง
ฉันก็เหงานะ แต่เราก็ชอบที่พี่เขาเป็นอย่างนั้นไม่ใช่เหรอ ผู้ชายที่มีพลังและความรับผิดชอบ ที่พุ่งไปข้างหน้าตลอดเวลา
สิ่งที่ฉันทำได�Eก็คือให้เขาทำสิ่งที่เขาตั้งใจนั้นอย่างเต็มที่โดยไม่ขัดขวางหรือแง่งอน... ถึงจะไม่ได้คุยกับพี่เขาบ้าง แต่ก็ไม่เป็นไรหรอกนะ... ไว้ถ้าพี่เขาว่าง�Eคราวนี้ถ้าจะชวนไปดูหนังหรือกินข้าวเย็นบ้าง ฉันจะไปละนะ

ผู้ชายนับ - 0. ผมทำงานจนเกือบบ่ายสองแล้วนึกได้ว่าลืมกินข้าว
“พี่เอกคะ ทานข้าวมั่งป่ะเนี่ย"น้องออย เด็กฝึกงานมาถามผมด้วยความเป็นห่วง “ออยไปซื้อให้ไหมคะ"
“ไม่เป็นไรหรอก พี่ไปกินเองก็ได�Eแล้วออยล่ะกินหรือยัง"
เธอสั่นหน้าแทนคำตอบ
“งั้นไปกินข้าวกับพี่ไหม... พี่เลี้ยงเอง"
น้องออยพยักหน้าตอบรับ... เออ วันนี้น้องออยแก้มสีชมพูเลย

ผู้หญิงนับ -10. “พี่กลับไปก่อนนะหนิง
“ค่ะ เดี๋ยวหนูรอแถวนี้อีกแป๊บนึงแล้วกันนะ
พี่เอกคงงานยุ่งจนไม่ได้ออกมาทานข้าว
วันนี้แหละ ถ้าพี่เอกชวนฉันไปดูหนัง ฉันจะไปดูกับเขา...

มันสายเกินไปหรือเปล่านะ..

Bakery Concert

10 Years Anniversary. This originally wasn't in my plan for yesterday since I don't belong in crowded places. But Luktan somehow got complimentary tickets from her friend who's working at Bakery so I had to go. Anyway, it's a good one. So many songs played (they boasted 94-lost count at 15) but took soooo long. 7pm to 2.30am. I started to fall asleep around 1am. ^^"

Friday, December 10, 2004

Chill..Chill

It's getting colder here in Bangkok. Temperature fell below 30 degrees during the day and even below 25 at night. Now is time when Bangkokians go to "beer gardens," which take place every year during December-January. haha The largest place is at World Trade Center, or Central World Plaza, where large beer companies like Singha, Heineken, Kloster, etc. organize their booths. The place is jampacked almost every night, especially Friday and Saturday nights.

Gotta find a chance to chill out. It's pretty hard to have a meeting when all your friends are graduated and at work/abroad. I miss my friends from school. Maybe it's time to make some phone calls. hehe

link: Thailand Weather and Safety.

New MSN Messenger 7.0 Beta

New features and better look. Still in beta but available to public now.

Thursday, December 09, 2004

I'm Back

Arrived Bangkok yesterday morning. The trip was actually 2 days so we were in a bit hurry. A bit tired but fun though. If asked what I like the most, the answer would definitely be food. Boat and Bow were here before so they're kinda familiar with the city and they took us to a few places: Hog's Breath Cafe, very delicious grilled prime ribs, so good that we had to go there twice; Billy Lee's Restaurant, delicious Chinese food. Even the fast food chains like McDonald's and Subway are good, in my opinion.

As mentioned above we had only 2 days--1 for sightseeing and 1 for shopping--so the time is very limited and there're only few places we went. We rented a car to drive to towns nearby. See below for pictures.

I really like the shades of the sky. Not a single cloud in it! Posted by Hello

At a small town near Perth (don't remember the name). Beautiful houses. Wish I had one. Posted by Hello

At sand dunes in Lancelin, 126km north of Perth. Posted by Hello

The girls at a rest area somewhere. Posted by Hello

The Margaret River Chocolate Company. I tried only the milk chocolate and they're delicious! Quite expensive though. Posted by Hello

Colorful trees at Houghton Winery. They got wine tasting here. Nice wines they have. Posted by Hello

Boat and his beer cap in Fremantle. Posted by Hello

At King's Park. White car on the right is our rented car. Posted by Hello

Saturday, December 04, 2004

Just finished packing my bags. Tomorrow I'll be going to Australia!

At first I thought this is another Korean love story, but actually it's Thai. Written by a team of senior students at Thammasat University. (Visit official website, or synopsis.) Posted by Hello

The Incredibles is in this week. Created by Pixar Studio, the maker of Oscar Awards winning Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo, this animation movie is guaranteed to be fun. (Visit website.) Posted by Hello

Thursday, December 02, 2004

XCT02 Checked!

XCT02: PPL Flight Test: Visual Navigation
Route: Hua Hin-Prachuab Kiri Khan

Sky today's full of haze. Quite hard to locate familiar ground reference. Plus checker turned off all nav instruments except ADF which made things even harder. There even was a period of time when I thought I was lost! But finally it ended up okay.

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

I made an appointment for flight test on Thursday because the checker's very busy. Sad thing is health check has been re-scheduled on Thursday too (just realized this after I'd talked to my checker). Will talk to Boat to see whether I can go to Aviation Medicine on Friday. Anyway that means I have to stay for 1 more day, but I heard a few more friends will also have to stay too.

Monday, November 29, 2004

Hmm... gotta prepare for another flight test (cross-country check) no later than Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday all students have to go to Institute of Aviation Medicine in Bangkok for yearly health check.

Submitted leave form for Dec. 7th-9th already. This means I'd be on holiday from Dec. 2-12!! (Dec 5th = King's birthday, and Dec 10th = Constitution Day) Hooray!

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Just got back from a very short Pattaya trip with Luktan and her girl friends. Imagine how tired it'd be to drive from Hua Hin-Bangkok-Pattaya on Friday afternoon and back from Pattaya-Bangkok the next day. Here's what we did during this trip:

Friday night: sleep.
Saturday 8am: breakfast at the hotel & sleep.
Saturday 11am: check out & have lunch (Som Tum).
Saturday 1pm: at Ripley's Believe It Or Not!
Saturday 3pm: at Swensen's.
Saturday 6pm: leave for Bangkok.

Very very early tomorrow I have to drive to Hua Hin. Have to fly as many sorties as I can cause I'm gonna be on vacation during 6th-10th of December. Also I got new AO sunglasses for Kru Mual (his old glasses were stolen). Gotta convince everyone to donate some money. hehe *evil smile*

Thursday, November 25, 2004

NFT04 Checked

NFT stands for Night Flying Test. Lots of traffic tonight. Poor me. I was put on hold for 3 times (2000' over airfield, 1 orbit on downwind, and went back to 1500' over airfield) but did good on landing/touch-down though.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Took first cross-country flight yesterday to Prachuap Kiri Khan (DXC02). This type of flight is difficult in a different kind of way. I mean, controlling the aircraft is not that complicated, navigating through the map, maintaining time+speed+heading en-route, and keeping track of aircraft are more important. I failed to maintain neither of them. One word: disaster. Have to practice more dry-runs.

Tonight there was a night flight which also didn't go very well. Maybe because I had to land on a different side of the runway (RWY 34) I used to land at night due to wind direction. My IP told me to prepare for night flying check soon (maybe tomorrow -_-).

Flight experience: 80:20 hrs

Monday, November 22, 2004

Yesterday we (me, Boat, Jon, Jazz, Yoh, Bask, Pop, and Aae) went out for evening cake (before dinner) at Anna's Cafe. Toffee Banoffi is the most favourite (delicious!). After that we went to Baan Ratchadumnern (บ้านราชดำเนิน), a small but good-looking resort, to pick up Aae's cousin, who's visiting Hua Hin, for dinner. They wanted some seafood so we went to Chao Lae. (ชาวเล) We ended up drinking and talking at the resort till midnight. Very sleepy.

IFT03 Checked

Done. (Yeah!!!) Few mistakes. De-brief session today afternoon.

Saturday, November 20, 2004

As I mentioned there will be another flying exam. At first I was thinking Monday or Tuesday, but when I heard P'Ake also had to check with the same checker as mine and he already made an appointment with the checker, I decided to take the exam on Sunday so I can brief (briefings with checker before and after test flights required) together with him. This would save time and we could help each other during briefing.

The pre-mission briefing went OK, because of too short time to prepare myself, there are questions I couldn't answer but that's not a big deal. To prepare for tomorrow's test, I've flown 3 flights today, more than the whole past week combined, to make sure I'll do good. I'm not happy with the practice but I guess I've to concentrate more tomorrow.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Bad News

Got back home yesterday at 4pm and brought the car to service center for changing defected part then went to Sam Yan (สามย่าน) to meet P'Ann, P'Kae, and Jack and have dinner (Thai e-sarn style). It's been a long long time since last seeing these guys. Sorry no pictures.

Went to Australian Embassy in the morning to apply for visa. Picked up the car and drove back to Hua Hin. Attended TB-20 class at 2pm. (Busy day)

The bad news is changing the part doesn't help, shaking and small vibration still exists. T_T Will have to wait for response from engineer team in Japan which I don't know when. Should I call and rush them? Maybe next week.

This week I'm not going back to Bangkok. Have to prepare for another flying test.

Nissan called yesterday that they got the missing part. I was so excited I couldn't wait for one more day and I went back to Bangkok yesterday evening, got the car checked in. Hope it will be in good shape after replacing the part. 2 more hours till finish..

Just got back from Australian Embassy. Visa applications here take 5 working days to process! Will have to go back there again next week for the result. (Oh, did I tell you I'm going to Australia?? hehe)

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Happy Birthday..

.. to me! One more year just passed by. -_-

Thanks..

  • .. my friends at Hua Hin especially Boat, Jon, Aae, Yoh, Jazz, Luktan, Bow, and Pui for a delicious (a bit salty though) Anna Cafe's blueberry cheese pie. Also, everyone who were at Hilton that night.
  • Luktan for the special gift and being there with me.
  • .. for calling: Or, Song Salueng Gang, and a few more calls I can't recall (sorry).
  • .. for HBD SMS: Nong Yu, P'Kae, P'Nong, Toey, P'Ning, Nong Som, P'Bank, Jack, Anonymous, Jump and Ed.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

On Oct 11th, there is a chartered Thai Airways flight to Hua Hin. It was a Boeing 737-400, callsign HS-TDF, flight TG8862. This doesn't happen often and it's my first time seeing one. Posted by Hello

Friday, November 12, 2004

Rear view of the Boeing with Hua Hin Airport terminal as background. Posted by Hello

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Mozilla Firefox

I've been waiting for a very long time for this Mozilla browser, code name Firefox. Mozilla code is based on GNU public license and is available to everyone for free. For the past few years, programmers all over the world have worked together to create softwares, including this one. Now it comes to a pre-production stage, which means it's usable by the general. I've installed version 1.0RC2 (release candidate - very very close to 1.0 release) and it works just fine, even with Thai language. With better security, no adware or spyware, better resource management, and more features, I definitely go for Firefox and would recommend others to switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox. Give it a try, at least they deserve a chance.

Get Firefox now! (Latest release as of Nov 5: 1.0RC2)

Picked up the car yesterday. Unfortunately, it's not fixed because of missing parts. They told me to wait another 3 or more weeks for the parts to be shipped from abroad. Damn!

It really hurts when you realises you've got a brand new car with defects, even small ones, you know. I was thinking to myself "why does this have to happen to me?" To look at the bright side, at least the service center didn't deny their responsibilities and admitted that some parts may have defects and they tried their best to solve the case.

Now 3 weeks and counting..

Thursday, November 04, 2004

GHT01 Checked

GHT01, first flying exam completed this morning. Mission GHT01 contains: turns std/30/45 degrees; power-on/off stalls; simulated forced landing; landing with full/take-off/no flap configurations; and low-level flying. Did OK except the navigation part cause of VOR failure/couldn't intercept specified radial outbound and inbound.

Monday, November 01, 2004

Happy Halloween!

There was a body paint show last night at Hua Hin Brewing (Halloween Party night). Disappointing show, really. (2 guys and a girl dancing wearing underwears painted with poster colors, got the picture?)

Happy Halloween to you all!

--
To myself: WordPress Serendipity Pit's Blog CP24 Blogring

Sunday, October 31, 2004

Bought this Netgear ADSL router with wireless support! Spent almost all this month's salary. hehe.. It's worth it cause everybody in the house can share the connection through wireless. Posted by Hello

Talked to the service center's manager about my car. He admitted it's shaking and I'd have to leave the car there for the whole week... What? I won't have car for a week, again? Fine. But make sure it's finished by next week!

Last night was Haloween night (or it's Oct 31?). Anyway, there are parties everywhere. At first, I thought I wouldn't hang out cause I got a flu and those sneezing, nose running and stuff were killing me. I had some medicine and some sleep in the evening and after woken up at 9pm I felt better. Plus I needed to leave my baggage in P'Boat's car (back to Hua Hin). So I went out with Luktan. P'Boat was so kind as he said he'd pick me up today. Nice.

Friday, October 29, 2004

To celebrate AP64 graduation even more, last night we went out to this brew house called Hua Hin Brewing Company, located next to Hilton. They have these great home-brewed beers. Well, actually we'd been there for like hundreds of times already. But last night was special because more than half of our class were there (about 20). This doesn't happen easily. Last time would be more than 6 months back when we were studying ground school in Bangkok.

It's a very good party. Pictures to be posted below.

More Party Posted by Hello

With the two singers Posted by Hello

Party at Hilton, 28-Oct-2004 Posted by Hello

Party at Hilton, 28-Oct-2004. Posted by Hello

Thursday, October 28, 2004

AP-64 graduation party on Oct 27 night. Posted by Hello

Starbucks is in town! Been there a few times. It's a nice place to chill. They gave out those Starbucks plastic mugs on their first few days opening too. Posted by Hello

Monday, October 25, 2004

Picked up the car then came back to Hua Hin. Had to wait almost 2 hours because the work wasn't neat and they had to fix it. Now the only problem I have with this car is that there is noticable vibration when the engine is running at idle rpm. Talked to P'Boat, he suggested I should claim this with Nissan. Hurrr! Another visit to Nissan service center. (Weekly!)

Sunday, October 24, 2004

Posting at high speed.. hoho

It took only a couple of minutes for the telephone guys to install the new line. At first I was hoping to go on-line right away but they told me I had to wait 2 days for that (the ADSL connection) to work. However, after they'd finished with the telephone line, I tried to connect the modem and.. it worked! Cool! The connection was surprisingly fast. Not sure if they let the speed to go upto 2.5M intentionally. (I applied for 256k.) Anyway, I should go start downloading something..

Saturday, October 23, 2004

Wow! Finally I'm going for hi-speed. Yes, it is that True Hi-Speed that everyone's talking about. They will install my new telephone line tomorrow and I'll be on an Internet superhighway.

Friday, October 22, 2004

Just back to BKK home. My car was ready but couldn't make it to the repair shop on time due to the traffic (it closes at 7pm) plus tomorrow is a holiday so I'd have to go back there again Monday morning.

For the past 3 days there is no flight because I had to go back to ground school again to study a short course about flight safety. It's actually Crew Resource Management, or CRM. The class was really nice and informative. Instructors were really devoted. And this weekend is a long weekend so there will be no flight too! Great!

Monday, October 18, 2004

Sad story: I was going out for lunch yesterday. I put my car on reverse and tried to grab something from the back seat at the same time. (Letting the car go on reverse without looking is such a stupid thing to do.) Suddenly I heard a crunch sound from the back of my car then it stopped. Ooooooohhh shhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiit! I crashed it with another car! It's only a month old for heaven's sake! Felt like crying. -_- One word: stupid.

Today I gotta go to the city to do insurance claims and send the car to do some repair works. Pictures will be posted later. Posted by Hello

New product from Google, search your desktop: http://desktop.google.com Posted by Hello

Friday, October 08, 2004

Bad weather (smog & haze) for the whole week. How could my class be graduated on time?? (Planned: April, 2005. Actual: delayed.)

Current flight experience: 41:55 hours. 183:05 hours remaining.

Sunday, October 03, 2004

My new car. Posted by Hello

The land on west side of my house turned into a construction site for a condominium. Posted by Hello

Pantip.com Article

from: http://www.pantip.com/cafe/ratchada/topic/V3045641/V3045641.html
my response:
Well I've been an owner of Nissan Teana for only two weeks and my odometer reads about 1700km. Had the car checked in at 1000km and it seemed okay. My experience driving this Teana involved driving in the big city and 2 round trips from Bangkok to Hua Hin.

About the exterior, almost everything is ok to me except the lower part of the body which is too low in my opinion as I managed to scratch the ground 2 times already. -_- However, this might happen because I got used to driving a higher, and shorter front-back wheels range, cars.

The JM, a higher series of Teana, which comes with Xenon headlights, should also come with white dim lights to make them blend in. Also, wheels in Australian version of the car look more beautiful.

There is nothing much to talk about interior. The intelligent key system is cool, however I feel a need of automatic engine shutdown and door lock when you got out of the car with the key, left the ignition switch on, and away for, say, 5 minutes. No, I didn't experience this myself, it's just an opinion. ^^

The steering wheel buttons are not neccessary to me. The audio control buttons are perfectly laid out and they don't take much effort of using the panel. Cruise control, as also mentioned by many fellows, is not neccessary for me either. Sound quality is ok, but should be better. Business card holder is useless, should be replaced with coin holder. I myself keep coins in the ashtray.

Driving Teana is so comfortable and secure. I managed to get a maximum speed of 190km/h and all I got was only a little bit of shaking. Fuel consumption rate, to me, is acceptable. The best I got was 8.4l/100km or approximately 12km/1 litre. I've only tried octane-91 fuel. Next tank will be filled with octane-95 to compare the consumption rate with octane-91.

Overall: nice car when compare price/performance with others at same level.

Saturday, October 02, 2004

Yesterday was very busy for me. Got to fly in the morning. Drove back to Bangkok, had my car checked for a little problem concerning idle rpm, then went to a temple (วัดพระศรีฯ) to attend a mourning ceremony of Boat's mother-in-law. After that we went out for dinner at a place called Booze Up located somewhere near Ramindra expressway. Got home at around midnight. More than 5 hours spent driving the car was killing me. Really tired plus caught a cold from the rain.

Talked to P'Ning (a lovely senior colleague at NCR, my previous company) the day before and she just told me she got married in August! And she's already about 4 months pregnented. Wow, way to go, sis! Wish you all the best.

To-do today: clean up the car & print car parking sticker.

Thursday, September 30, 2004

Stupid mistake

On the plane this evening:

me: "Starting engine.. turn on radio master switch.. contacting ground.. err..."
--me looking for the microphone, and it wasn't there!--
me: ".............."
IP: "Go out and get one from another plane."
--me trying to open door handle, and of course I couldn't--
me: ".............." -_-"

My IP had to open his door and got out to get a microphone. He came back with a microphone and an unhappy look on his face! Hurr.. Stupid mistake again. Luckily the flight was okay so I didn't get kicked.

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Long time no see!

Sorry for having been away for a long time. There were many things to do. Will tell you guys later. Well, for now how about some photos?

At Hua Hin airport. There was a welcome ceremony for those Olympics athletes. Posted by Hello

The runway at dawn. (Hardly seen though.) Taken from my dorm. Posted by Hello

The apron after raining. Posted by Hello

Monday, August 30, 2004

Catching up

Been away for a few days. Nothing much to catch up last weekend.

Aug 26:
Having done terrible mistake in the morning, I felt down all day. What happened must be because I was over-confident about myself, and bad decision making. This has to be changed. At the end of the day I tried to cheer myself up. I went out to the beach with my friends for a small party. It was nice. At least I got to relax a bit. It is because I am surrounded by good friends. They always cheered me up. On the following day there was a flight scheduled for me in the early morning. Must concentrate on that.

Aug 27:
It took me a while to gather enough courage to face my instructor. Surprisingly, my instructor decided to send me to fly solo (alone) again. I was a bit confused as I wasn't sure what he had in mind. Maybe he trusted me so much that he decided to let me go for a second chance. Or maybe he hated me so much that he just wouldn't care if anything wrong happened again. Must concentrate on flying...

It all went well, however. It was not a perfect flight but not a terrible flight. Felt a little bit better. Back to Bangkok in blue.

In the evening there was a meeting with my high school classmates. 8 people were there. Quite a long while after last seen. We talked about everything, from what we do now to what we did when we were in school. It's funny when we recall those memories. Sounds like we are old, huh! Of course not! We are just in the late-teenager period. LOL

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Today is my bad day

Did terrible thing in-flight. No more to say..

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Leo is back

Last night we were drinking some Leo beers. It's a local beer. Same brewer as the popular Singha's but the price is less expensive. It reminds me of the time when I was in the university, when I was young. We always drink Leo, Chang, and Singha beer, of course because of their low prices. We also ended up having terrible hang-overs the day after. (Thai beers are strong!) But it was so much fun though.

There was no plane to fly today as usual. After having spent a few hours pointlessly browsing the net, I found a link to eBay (the infamous on-line bidding site) showing bids on gmail.com account invitations. (If you've no idea what it means, you may skip the following...) Strange offer--how could someone ever think of selling account invitations? But what is stranger is there are people who actually buy those invitations. Anyway, I did participate in some bids though. haha.. Come on! The deal is tempting, gmail.com offers absolutely free e-mail accounts with storage space as large as 1GB! (Plus I'm one of those "strange" people.) It is still in beta period but will be publicly launched soon.

Umm. Gonna have a glass of pineapple fruit shake. See ya!

Sunday, August 22, 2004

Academy Fantasia

Result: The winner is Wit as expected. He is so talented and deserved the prize. First runner-up is Jean. 2nd runner-up is Off.

    Didn't-do this weekend:
  • Revise FTM
  • Homework: engine failure in flight & forced landing procedure

Friday, August 20, 2004

Love..Love

After having spent whole Thursday afternoon and evening on reading my Flight Training Manual about crosswind landing, which I did terribly the day before, and a number of dry-runs. I was well prepared for crosswind today. But guess what? The wind was so calm! From 6am until 11am there was no wind at all. Never mind, maybe next time. huh Anyway, still very happy with today's flight as I finally did better on landings.

Return Bangkok home in the afternoon. A little nap while driving. (Dangerous!) May get some sleep this evening and if got up early, party is waiting!

    To-do this weekend:
  • Academy Fantasia final episode on Sat. night
  • Revise FTM
  • Homework: engine failure in flight & forced landing procedure
  • Pay bills

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Article: Eats, Blogs & Leaves

Interesting article: Eats, Blogs & Leaves by Jennifer Garrett. Saw it on Blogger site.

I personally agree that articles or blogs or messages or whatever that go out to public should be grammatically correct. However, I would like to add that some exceptions should also be made to people who don't speak English as their primary language, uh, like me for example. For someone who rarely speaks, expressing thoughts/ideas in English is difficult enough, let alone a grammatically-correct one. Don't you agree?

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

First Flight

Finally, I had a flight yesterday. After having waited for more than 2 weeks. (Actually 18 days which is current class record!) It was my first flight with my new instructor, or kru in Thai.

Thai language has 2 regularly used words that mean teacher or instructor--ajarn and kru. Someone once told me that these 2 words are different in that kru is used when more closed relationship between teacher and his/her students exists, and more than knowledge is offered to students, like teachers in kindergarten/pre-primary school. This also applies to teachers in aviation schools because their lives and their students' lives kinda bond together--if, like, a plane crashes, it is more likely that both of them won't make it. The word ajarn is used in general teacher meaning, like a university teacher.

Back to the flight, it was a disaster though. I took off at noon and the wind was quite strong. I had to land with 8-10 knots crosswind which I couldn't do it. Very disappointed in myself. Hope I'll do better next time. More dry-runs needed.

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Long Drive

Yeah I'm back. The island was nice, everything looked almost the same as before. Last time I went there was about a year ago. But driving Bangkok-Rayong trip was not so fun. This week I drove almost 1000km in total. (Hua Hin-Bangkok-Rayong) Exhaustive, huh.

Plus there's something wrong with my digital camera. It just decided not to re-charge the battery. Hope it has something to do with the battery, not the camera. I know it's 2+ years already but now is not a good time to buy a new battery cause I just can't afford it. During my study here my allowance is .. well, not very much. Anyway, luckily I also brought with me a camera that uses film so at least I've got some pics to post here.

I wish I have flight this week. Sa-tu.

Thursday, August 12, 2004

old links

This morning I checked out my long list of favourite websites in order to clear out some. Found out this site: Portrait Illustration Maker. Some of you might already have heard of. This very popular site lets you create an avatar of your own to be used on IM, web log, or whatever. You get to select each part of your face and background and combine them together. Cool application, well, uh, at least it can kill your time. By the way, I decided to have a short trip to Koh Samed. By short trip I mean spending only 1 night there. Time to relax a bit. ^^ Later

mother's day

Today is mother's day. Let your mom know how much you love her.

(err.. me? still suffer from hang-over from the party. maybe later in the afternoon, mom. --bad boy! kids don't do this.)

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

back to the big city

Just back from a 3-hour drive from Hua Hin to Bangkok, and driving across town to get my wallet from Jon (I left my wallet in his car the day before). Yeah finally I'm home--very tired. Tomorrow is mother's day (a holiday) so I decided to take Friday off so that I can go back home a bit early this week. Mother's Day Party is coming up tonight! Haha.. Another irrelavant reason to party--they say Thai people always are able to find a reason to get drunk, I totally agree. Better get some sleep for a few hours before going out.

sunset in bangkok
sunset in Bangkok

Sunday, August 08, 2004

new instructor

Just a short update that I had just been assigned a new instructor. He is one of the most wanted instructors. hehe I'm lucky again!

Anyway, no flight schedule tomorrow as expected. (Well, actually there was, but some other people need to use the plane more) Maybe another party tonight? hehe

starting new week

wondering who's gonna be my new instructor. no doubt there will be no flight schedule for me this week. boring!

Friday, August 06, 2004

bad news

There have been rumors going around about my instructor leaving for airline company. This just happens to be no rumor, but truth! My instructor confirmed me the day before that he'd leave on Aug 9th for an airliner.

Well, there's not much to say, except farewell to him. Though I'm feeling a bit down cause my instructor is the coolest guy in school--he's always chill and teach very patiently. Now I don't have an instructor anymore, guess next week they will assign me new one. My only wish is to have a nice instructor!

Friday, July 30, 2004

my first solo flight

On July 29th, I had a final pre-solo check, which means if I pass the test I'll be able to fly solo (alone, without instructor). And the result was pass! What a relief! A bit shaking though.

first flight alone--taking-off
taking off alone on first flight