Was having a chat after dinner the other day. One of the few days when we were actually free to sit around and talk. The topic of the night was what car are we going to reward ourselves with when we are finally settled down.

One guy wants to get a MX5, but he predicts that his wife-to-be will tell him "spend so much on the car, go marry the car-lah". Next option would be...

Mazda 3 or Vios. Well, those are my options anyway. But I doubt I will smell any burning rubber for the next couple of years at least.

My replacement instructor is almost done with this phase with me. By the time my real instructor gets back, he just needs to complete one last flight before he sends me off to be checked. February looks quite possible now.

Today was supposed to start at 8AM, fresh awake and all ready for the airshow. Instead, it started at 8AM, groggy and reluctant to wake up if not for the fact that the tickets were already booked. And I blame it on the sudden party last night in one of the rooms which lasted all the way to 5AM I heard. I was up until 2AM and despite the occasional shouts and screams, I was able to doze off at about 230 or so.

The airshow wasn't too bad. However, the sun was a scorcher. And it is not really summer yet. I cannot imagine how it will be like next month. Lots of big boys toys were on display. Wanted to take photos in some of them, but the queues were ridiculous. At one display, I figured it would take about an hour to reach my turn. No display is worth 1 hour!

Today, the coursemate who is going home tomorrow gave our course a treat at an Italian restaurant at Freo. The food was good. Can't say the same about the music selection plainly because there was no selection! The same track was playing over and over for at least half an hour. It would have gone on if we did not request for a change of music. Halfway through the dinner, three ladies came over to our table from a table upstairs. It looked like they were having an all-girls night out, and they were having some sort of scavenger hunt. Too bad we couldn't help them out because none of us had a condom in our wallet. So much for safe sex education.

So, he will be leaving tomorrow morning, leaving 15 of us to slowly slog it through.

One of the many stresses that comes along with the SI-kia tag is that everybody else assumes that you are a top dog, or ace, or maverick. No, not just my peers, the instructors too! So you can imagine the stress I had to go through when I was flying with one of the other instructors and he said "So, let's see what is Mr XXX's standards" when I was coming in for a landing. Thankfully, I didn't drag Mr XXX's name into the mud that day. And if I thought that was bad, a bunch of instructors ambushed the guy I flew with when he landed to find out how I was. These guys sure can gossip. Reminds me of what my mum told me a long time ago, that the staff room (instructors room) is one long grape vine.

The first guy from my course will be leaving very soon. Maybe tomorrow.

And I wonder when will my turn be...

More signs that summer has really set in:
1. Chilled coke is much desired
2. Avoiding crossing the road due to the heat
3. Actually sweating in flight
4. It is just plain hot

Last night, the roommate did something that everyone in the college always wanted to do, but refrained from at the last minute. It is just a click of a button away, but nobody did it.

It is time to upgrade to when more people are listening out.

Boss is going to Singapore for two weeks for some papers. In the meantime, I have been assigned to "mata". But like what the roommate remarked, you will never be caught when you are in the cop car.

I better make sure I know enough guys in the junior courses. At the rate I am going, I am going to need their help to get me to the airport when I eventually finish with this place...

Forgot to mention about the welcome party which was on Friday. After attending countless welcome parties since March (it has been a while), it was finally our turn to be the welcome-rs. The new batch seem nice. And there are only 12 of them, which kept the event short and sweet. However, we did go into extra-time but it was not as bad as how some others went where they wrapped things up at about 11. This time, we finished things at about 10. An hour saved.

And with drinks being poured, true colours showed. Particularly so with one guy who is normally quite loud and brash at times. And with the effect of alcohol, all the more so. He was aggressive, abusive, and threatening at times. It took quite a bit of self-discipline to keep myself from just turning around and give him a smack on the head.

Mentor instructor decided to surprise us with a meeting this morning. Good thing he did too because at last, one group in the course project produced something worth presenting. Although it was last minute, it worked. Last minute work is always best. Luckily the instructor was fine with what we presented. Just a few tweaks here and there. If not, I would have to do some serious ass kicking within the course.

Will be visiting the air show middle of this month. More updates on that when it comes.

It has been too long. And I have a good reason too if you hear me out. Paul's family is down here visiting and so the car is with him. Meanwhile, I ran out of internet credits and I could not go out to withdraw money. Seems quite a sad reason, but it is true. And because of that, I have deprived all my dear readers of accounts of my ever-entertaining life here.

In the meantime, I managed to slowly progress through with my training.

I have picked up Championship Manager 5 again.

I bought a pair of bermudas.

And that is about it for now.