1SG Riccardo Tan

This is my rank, there are many like it but this one is mine.

I don't know to rejoice and celebrate or to be reserve and reflect on my achievement in RSAF. Just got a handshake from my CWO Encik Ong today congratulating that I will be promoting to 1SG (1st Sergent). Well, I am recommended to be promoted and not really promoted yet. Got to go with my Boss to the BIG Boss office to recieve another handshake from him. You see, before any promotion in rank, I got to sign on this form telling me I am recommended for promotion and I have to choose if I want it or not. By accepting the promotion and signing on the line, I will be oblige to stay in RSAF for at less another year from date of promotion. The other option is to turn down the offer for promotion which is equivalent to kicking my Boss below the belt, not a very smart move. Anyway, whats the issue with that? I can only ORD in 2013, so the 1 year make not difference whatsoever.





Now what do I think of the promotion? First, it came on time, on schedule. Going to be promoted on 1st of May, exactly 2 years after I got my 2nd Sergent and its normal to be promoted to 1SG after 2 year. Second, I kinda reflect on my own performance from my 3SG time to the ending period of my 2SG, all the screw-ups and cock up I made, all the regretable extra job I created for my fellow structural flight guys...the dent on the rotorblades when I was OJT, the crack inlet screen , the torque wrench that got stuck in my ingeniously fabricated tank removal tool, the dented aft pylon crown fairing, the cracked access cover. Thinking back I can't imagine how I actually survive through all this episode. If not for the understanding and support of my fellow colleague and of course the forgiveness given for my folly, I wonder how the hell I will be right now.



Sometime I thought to myself, do I really deserve this promotion or to be even recommended at all for I don't think I am really "there" yet to warrent a 1SG promotion. I humbly say there is still much more stuff I don't really know about my work, my dedication and commitment is 60% currently, my Situation Awareness need more honing, my technical knowledge is still grade C and I don't see myself sacrificing extra hours at work. The only saving grace is I love what I'm doing thats all. Compare to my current senior, I think I am still so much far away from their capability. Come to think of it, maybe a promotion in SAF sometime got nothing to do with performance, its a sign to telling you "Hey its time to move out of that comfort zone, move up and take up more responsibilty, roles and work" or " Wake up you idea soldier! You are no longer the Junior guy" or "Time to take more arrows" or " I don't care if you can or cannot but you better perform".

Well, nothing too fanciful about promoting to first sergent anyway other than a salary raise and paying extra tax the coming year. The additional "roof top" on my new rank just means that additional responsibilty to carry and a sign that I should be independent at work with my own shelther. I sure hope the two extra roof could hold additional weights... or maybe the roof might be too heavy for me to handle?

This is my rank, there are many like it but this will be mine.

My rank is my best friend. It is my life.

I must protect it as I must protect my iron rice bowl.

My rank without me is unusual, without my rank my salary is rock bottom.

I must sew my rank properly

or RSM will catch me.

Orthopedic and Therapy for my poor left foot

Today I finally went to see a doctor for my left ankle problem that have been bugging me for quite sometime. Its actually an Orthopedic clinic, not your normal clinic you go for flu or fever.

Defination (from Wikipedia),

orthopedics (also spelled orthopaedics, see below) is the branch of surgery concerned with acute, chronic, traumatic, and overuse injuries and other disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons address most musculoskeletal ailments including arthritis, trauma and congenital deformities using both surgical and non-surgical means.

Its Dr Khan who consulted me on my left ankle post injury symptoms and after a careful examination of several of my left foot X-rays, he concluded that its nothing serious at the moment. I learn that due to my bad sprain, twice on my left foot, the ligament have probably weaken and is not able to hold foot well. So now the weak ligament have to be supplemented by my leg muscles to keep the bones together.

Although I do have strong leg muscles thanks to all the resistance exercise and running I did in the past, my flat foot problem actually put a lot of stress on the muscle right at the inner back of my left foot. Scientifically, the muscle is call the Posterior Tibial Tendon. So I learn that I have flat foot today (never knew it before) and learn that the flat foot actually cause inflammation to the Posterior Tibial Tendon which is the source of the pain whenever I stand for a prolong period of time or when I walk too much. Strangely, running and jogging does not cause any pain to my left feet. Probably due to the pronation of my feet during the run.



Was recommended and referred to a Physical Therapy Clinic just half a mile North of the Orthopedic Clinic and over there, the Therapist make me go through a few different exercise to strengthen the muscles in my left foot. Well, the session lasted for one and a half hours and cost a whopping US$200 for the treatment!!! Luckily my employer (a.k.a SAF) brought Health Insurance for me and I only have to co-pay US$10. In any case, I guess I will not go back for the physical therapy session again. Rather save that US$10 and do those exercise myself, at less I already know what to watch out for to prevent recurrence and what exercise to do thanks to the very very comprehensive first Therapy session I went to.

At the moment, got to buy some Arch support from Walgreens to alleviate the pain symptom. My thoughts? Well, at less I could still run and jog , my favorite sports activity. IPPT is coming this friday, I am confident I shouldn't have any problem getting the Gold timing again for the 2.4km run but to be honest, I am pretty worried about screwing up my left foot when doing the standing broad jump.

MAC or PC? Apple or Orange?

Its the time of the year to buy a new laptop again. Not that my current laptop is too slow or I grew tired of it or what, its just that I am thinking of getting something more portable than my bulky 15.4" Toshiba laptop which weight like brick when I carry it around during my vacation trip. I sure hope the laptop could fit into my bag pack instead of needing a laptop bag for itself during my bag packing trip in United States.

Anyway, its time to look for a new laptop, not just for me to have a lighter and smaller alternative of keeping myself "connected" while on holiday but also the fact that I will be giving my current laptop to my mum who is just starting to learn how to playwatch DVDs and use the touch pad of the laptop. Its so wonderful to see my elder one taking the enriching step into the IT realm. So giving her my laptop will encourage her ever more to explore the wonderful world of multimedia and Internet which now is just bread and butter to me and sometimes realizing its just a normal part of my life, nothing too wonderful to brag about.

After looking at so so so many 13.3 in and below laptop which either looks boring or cost a bomb. I am starting to contemplate getting a Apple Mac Book. Hmm... doesn't its design and color remind me of the Nintendo DS Lite I just recently brought? Doing research right now and comparing Mac and PC. I seldom play PC games anymore cause I have Playstation 2 and Nintendo DS Lite, more than enough games to enjoy (too much games sometimes). So a PC or Laptop to me is just to check e-mails, right rubbish and nonsense blog , watch video, do some photo editing, some crazy video and of course blogging.

At the moment, still learning more about Apple Mac and Mac OS using my Laptop and Windows XP (how ironic). Feel like a communist right now thinking of defecting to the Free West Democracy. So far, it all look pretty good for the Mac. Gonna head down to the store and do some hands on.

Creative Killer Video

Cho Seung -Hui, if this name does not ring a bell (a big big alarm bell) I bet you guys are not following the news recently. He is the guy that broke the US History as the man who slain a record breaking of at less 33 fellow students in the recent suicide-killing rampage at Virgina Tech, a college in USA.

This guy, I learn, is in some kind of English Major class at the college. This guy wrote weird and disturbing essay for example how one guy chainsaw the other guy to pieces. And how very devilish creative he was until his last breath... After murdering 2 poor chap at the school, he took a 2 hour break to send out a mail containing a video, writings and pictures of his final words to NBC News like some terrorist suicide bombers. After sending the mail with a wrong recipient zip code, he went back to school on a shooting spree and ending his life finally before the Police could pump some leads into him...

NBC News Report of the suicide attack video

Hey man, you can go wrong if you are too smart sometime. He could have channel his creative disturbing writings or essay into a book, a movie or a drama instead of sending himself to hell. Did I mention he was an English Major? He could have make a name for himself to be the next bestselling gruesome novel writer or scriptwriter for the next SAW IV movie. Poor chap... Ended his life GTA: Virginia Tech style. The only saving grace is that he earn himself 4 stars if this was, to him, a game.


P.S: GTA is a popular Playstation 2 games 'Grand Theft Auto' where you could hit the street, steal cars at gun point or just go around killing anyone in the street while attracting the exciting attention of shooting cops, FBI and if things get really terrible, the Army...

Is there rocks left unturn in this case? Was he pick upon and bullied by others breaking his sanity tolerance? We never know until further investigation by the authority but one thing I believe is 'Cause and Effects', something happen in this life that push him of his supposedly bright but blinding future? He went crazy and brought a couple of guns...

How easy is it to get a gun in United States? Pretty easy I say, if you have a US driver license you can get a gun from the local stalls like Cabela or Sportsman Warehouse. I could almost purchase a gun here if not for careful thoughts of how I gonna get rid of it when I go back to Singapore. Such ease of acquirement was argued that customer purchase it for self-defense. Well, in the first place if guns are outlaw from public purchase, do people have to buy guns for defence in the beginning? There is no way to outlaw purchase of guns now, maybe control the purchase of guns by selected individuals who have been screen by authority, pass some mental health test and undergo proper firearms training and education. The hole of firearm purchase is too deep to be covered now.

Racing Pitch! You voice is the Engine!

RACING PITCH

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7458010617518035494

Use you voice, the humming, the screeching and the rumbling to control the speed of the race car. No, you are not the driver but the Engine. Sound too weak, race too slow... Sound to loudly, blown the engine. And here is where you download the games, Mic is not provided please buy it at your nearest computer hardware store.

http://skinflake.com/games/prototypes

And here is a video demonstration of me playing the game...

B.I.N.G.O and BINGO was his name...

Can win alot but not easy to win.

Today, I went to a place at Irving for a session of Bingo game with Master Andy and Ricky. You know what...I thought its just like the regular BINGO we played in party where you have a 5x5 square on a piece of paper and whoever get 3 lines wins the money. Just looking at the price money makes me drool....

How very wrong I was. After paying 5 dollars at the counter for my BINGO ticket, I suddenly realized that it become 5x5 square multiply by 9 sets on a piece of ticket! So now I got 9 chance to win but it also means I have to split my attention to 9 different sets. In fact for $5 I got 4 piece of tickets (each ticket have 9 sets of 5x5) to pay 4 different kind of BINGO games.

Oh my god... I am seeing Squares....

If the paragraph above sound a bit confusing, playing the game is totally overwhelming for a beginner like me. The first game was a simple "TWO STRAIGHT BINGOS" rule which means when I got 2 lines...I just have to shout BINGO to the annoyance of the dozens other players around to claim my price. Sound simple but consider this, when the number is displayed on the TV screen, I only got around 30 to 40 secs to to mark out those numbers on the ticket before the judge announce the number (yup...you get to see the number first). The next number will than be displayed and after 30 to 40 secs again the announcement is made. This goes on untill someone have a BINGO (2 straight lines) and he/ she have to shout "BINGO" or "CALL" when the judge announce the number that make them win.

Well, not only do I have to mark out the number on the ticket fast, I also have to monitor if I won. You see, if the number that was called out give me 2 straight lines but I missed out and did not shout BINGO before the next number is announced, I basically threw US$200 out of the window. So got to be fast, got to be Alert and got to be observant.

Pretty exciting and fast pace game. Played 4 different type of game for the day and with all the heart pounding action and fast hand movement, I did not win anything for the day. I think we should bring this game to Singapore Pool and propose it to be played in Singapore, its like playing Nintendo "Brain Age", keep those mind and hands active while winning a bit of money.

Not a Dildo but a marker to mark the squares.

Mother Nature give me the pain...

Ever played Warcraft II or Warcraft III? I hope you guys still remember the mighty Blizzard spell conjured by the Wizards of the Alliance. Its like blade shape hailstones falling from the Sky annihilating any living creature on the ground.

Just yesterday, I was hit by hailstones when I just got out of my car after getting back from the gym. At first I thought it was just the heavy rain but the sound of "poke poke poke" on the ground tell otherwise. Damn, just that short distance from my sheltered carpark to my apartment, I think I got hit probably a dozen times by those hails the size of a cherry. Felt like a couple of kids throwing stones at me.

Thank god I donated no blood to the occasion but my poor hand phone drop onto a puddle of water and immediately short circuit. Luckily is a cheapo Nokia 3120 which I got free from my colleauge. I could have use my Sony Ericsson W810i but it got really poor network reception since its a Singapore network mobile phone. So I got a new hand phone today after re contracting my current Cingular lines for an additional 2 years. My brand new Nokia 6102i....the first "Flip-Phone" I ever own.

Close Sesame...

Open Sesame!

Currently, my life is Nintendo DS madness. Been playing Advance War Dual Strike for the whole night yesterday and a bit of pet care in Nitendogs. What a great time and boredom kiler machine!

Whats in that box?

Something big came into my letter box today...

Quack! Quack! Whats in that box?

Quack? A Box full of plastic bags?

QUACK!!! Its my new Onyx Nintendo DS Lite!!!

Came together with a $15 Circuit City discount voucher! Wahahaha... earn their US$24 voucher and now they gave me a $15 voucher. Really value their customer.

Behold its Blackness...


And its Brightness.

Hurray!!! So I finally get my life first handheld console!!! A Nintendo DS Lite. Been waiting and chasing for it past couple of weeks. Thanks to a bit of patience and luck, i got it at US$116 instead of US$140. In fact I have already plan to get it when I was back during my home trip in Singapore. Back than, Lollipop girl lend me her DS Lite and I was immediately hooked! For someone who use a PALM Handheld during work, its almost natural that the Nintendo DS Lite be the my choice gaming console. So back than (again) I brought some DS Lite accessories since its cheaper in Singapore...

This is a 3 in one package. A black DS Lite Bag, 2 extendable stylus and Screen protector sheet. MADE IN JAPAN.

Crystal case with customizable skin to protect the DS Lite from dirt, thumb print and scratches.

R4 to play "Chiong" games and a MicroSD card to store the games.

Hmm...I think I will start with Trauma Center: Under the Knife, than Mama's Cooking , next will be Advance War: Dual Strike and finally Nintendogs! Wah lau...now my PC got 50++ DS Lite Games!!! Play till Siao...

Some more picture of our guys and Blue Bonnet and a Chopper on a Daisy field

A Chopper on a Daisy Field

Flower Crazy Boys

Lagi Flower Crazy!!!

FLOWER BLOOM! FLOWER CRAZY! 花开，花吃！

This Spring, beautiful Blue Bonnet flowers bloom in abundance around Peace Prairie Detachment Helicopter Base. Its really nice to see greens and blue in the field outside our hanger after such a long period of only seeing dry grasses and bald trees.

The view could have been much more better if not for some base policy to have the grass around the Chinook parking area trimmed short. Before the Blue Bonnet bud could bloom, they were beheaded... sigh. Else the whole field right in front of the hanger door will be a sea of blue.

At less we guys never forget to have some photo shooting fun with the limited patch of Texas National Flowers... While driving into base yesterday, me, Edwin and Ho Soon Keat stop our car right after the guard post and took a couple of pictures with the flowers. Only got mine here so far, I have not got the rest from Edwin and Soon Keat yet.

Right after the guard post...

Meditation makes one calm and mellow

Praying for better weather and bonus this year...

Mind you, the ground is actually wet... what a sacrifice .

Quit Smoking Day

Free US$24 Circuit City Gift Card! No Nintendo DS Lite :(

I was suppose to pick up my new Onyx (Black) Nintendo DS Lite which I ordered online through Circuit City websites. The location for my pick up is the Circuit City outlet nearby at Lewisville. To my surprise, when I reach the store the staff apologize that there was some kind of system error on their website which allowed me to place an order when the Black Nintendo DS Lite was actually out of stock.

So they have to cancel my order on the spot but not without giving me a US$24 dollar Circuit City Gift Card as their sincere apology since money always make human happy. Great. This time my Nintendo DS Lite will be US$24 cheaper.


The store actually had White ones but I die die bust get the Black one. Black are pretty hard to find around the area and stock ran out fast. Guess I just gonna purchase it online and have their warehouse ship to my home directly.

This is a really cool key chain I got from Singapore!!!

WARNING
The following pictures you are about to see may content images unsuitable for minors, sensitive adults and probably animals. The following reproduction is solely for humorous artistic purpose. Viewer discretion is advised ( or you can stop visiting my blog, you are in my domain so obey or be obliterated) . Take it easy man :)


Here by presenting the word coolest key chain....

Empire's new software system and my neighbours network problem

Came home today with a CD loaded with our latest Empire management software user manual. Have been reading it for the pass 2 hours and I only got one thing to say, either I bite the bullet and learn how to use the software (SAP software actually) before it become a dependency for us to use it all the time thanks to HQ requirement or I can just do nothing at all, hopping that any where I go or any task I encounter someone in my section will be really gel with the software to do all the data processing and updating for us. Alas, I look around me... other than 1 or 2 guys I know (1 very enthusiastic and 1 basically being push down the Volcano Crater), there is no one else to turn to if both of them are not around.

Funny thing happen in life, the more you avoid, the more it come to you. I was called in by my dear Encik today to accompany him for this software meeting. All of a sudden Boss started pushing couple of guys to the front line to face the relentless charges of technology changes of our Empire. I am part of this so called 2nd wave attack against a seems to be complicated and headache new software in our Empire. The 1st wave of hard core digital soldiers are still hard at work and the 2nd wave (me and couple of others) will be their supporting role.

My Encik seems to feel guilty when I kanna this arrow but I assured him that sooner or later, I got to learn how to use this new software so why don't I learn it now? Right? In fact I already have intention to face the facts and study the software manual so I will be a viable resource to this Empire. And since my good Encik have been arrowed by Boss to lead the Software team, and my Encik have been charging forward even with those iron balls and shackles tied to his legs, I couldn't just "siam" and pretend I don't know how to study the software user manual.

Oh boy...here I go, 120megabytes, 1000 pages, 1,000,000,000 of words in 1 TDK CD-ROM. For my own future good, for my section, for my Encik and maybe a little for my boss, I have read 6 chapters today. All theory and no practical experience yet...so now the question is, do I pop by during this saturday to see how things are done by the 1st wave hardcore digital soldiers (a.k.a my colleagues who are expert with the software) or should I go shop for my Nintendo DS Lite???? Hmmm....

Today I learned how to assign fix IP address to computer connected in a wireless network. All thanks to my good neighbor (who is sharing our wireless internet connection) who have trouble connecting to the network due to the stupid router tendancy to assign IP address that was already assign to the other computers that were already connected to the router earlier. Learn something new again about Networking...

About Marriage...

Marriage is not forbidden to us, but instead of getting married at once, it sometimes happens we get married at last.

Who am I today? -- A Gardener, A Key Finder...

Today, I am a Gardener. I finally decided to fulfill a small little goal in my heart; to start a mini Garden in my balcony. Some soil, some seeds and a couple of recycled container set the motion in action...

This is my balcony....this is my plant nursery.

Ben and Jerry, Hagen Daz, I am not... little potty plant I am

A very environmental conscience RSAF personal... reusing old filters as flower pots.

Even the popcorn container from SeaWorld San Antonio can be put to good use. So is the BabyDoll Strip Club Syringe for watering.

Once Yummy now full of dirt...

Today, I am a Key finder. I lost my car keys, I thought I lost it. I got to use my backup keys but I understand the kind of person I am. I am someone who does not like
mystery, no stone should be left unturned. Where the hell is my key? I thought I came home with it today after yesterday guard duty. For the whole day, my mood is not good. I don't like the idea of having no backup at all. 1 car key is not enough. Duplicating it cost a few hundred thanks to the built in computer chip. Alas, after almost a full day of search and recalling, I finally found it in a little bag I use 2 days ago... Thank god.

San Francisco California Pacific Route 1 Blog --Part 4

This is the last Part of my travel blog... I called it Part 4 - "After waking up at Pigeon Point Light House". Here are the link to Part 1 to 3 for you guys who have no idea where I was before Part 4.
Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3

9.00am 24/3
My stay at Pigeon Point Lighthouse is coming to an end today but not without meeting this 60 years old Grandma from Brooklyn. At first she seems slightly irritated when she realize that I was working with the US Military but I got to assure her that I was merely a mechanic and have no political inclination towards Bush and whatever military policy he have. Apparently she seems to hate to the bone the government lead by the current President. Old Grandma went ahead and rattled,

“Democracy and Freedom that we start so strong with have been slowly and unconsciously taken away.”
“I felt a sense of dictatorship”
“The US School health care system is in poor condition”
“The Media is bad”

I see… behind all this Super Power U.S.A propaganda is an old lady that is very piss off with how her country is going. It makes me think, a country is like a body, if you don’t nourish, detoxified and maintain from within, how is the body able to take care of its condition above skin level? I think US should take care of themselves well before taking charge of other peoples problem.
Got to head off to the edge of the light house for a while now. The little girl here said she spotted a couple of Harbor Seals while she is trying to spot the whales in the ocean.

9.20am
Pretty foggy day through the Pacific Ocean. At this condition, probably won’t be able to catch any whales at all even if the Horizon seems visible. Still, I manage to spot the Harbor Seals, resting on the rocks trying to get some warmth from the cold ocean water.

Whale Watchers

Thanks to the lady who lend me her Bushnell Binoculors, I got a good view of those lazy seals. Its really cold even in Spring right here, I wonder how thick their fats are. Now a little bit of knowledge, Harbor Seals got white speckles and normal seals are just solid brownish color.

Some pictures of the lighthouse I stayed over night at to share with you guys. Of course I am not staying inside the lighthouse but the buildings around it.

The Hostel I stayed in, its call the Dolphin building

The Bedroom, The Living Room and The Kitchen

9.55am
I am heading down, 7 mins drive to Ano Nuevo State Reserve where I learn there is a large grouping of Elephant Seals.

10.30am
Spotted a grill café name Gazo Grill along the way to Ano Nuevo State Reserve. Suddenly felt I have not really took a proper meal since coming back to U.S.A and the sign just make me hungry. So the Elephant seal got to wait while I fill my stomach with a Cabrillo Highway Omelet and a big glass of Dr Pepper.

Life goes on slowly for me so far but driving all the way to the California coast have been an eye opening and heart opening experience. I am sure I could go on with this traveling thing forever, discovering new places. I think this world is just too big for a mouthful. Too many places to go and people to meet. Just USA itself, you probably could spend a life time here and not be able to finish exploring it.

Hope I could ride a bike and explore instead of driving.

Sometime I feel like a small little creature in this big big world. This world just dwarfed me.

11.00am
BURP!!!....I’m full.

12.00pm
Sure is a very long walk from the Visitor Center to the staging point where the guided tour start. Paid US$6 for the State Reserve parking fee and S$5 for the guided tour. Those folks behind me kept up real well for the ¾ miles walk.
Words from the State Reserve Volunteers,

Words of "Colonel Sanders Wannabe"...
“You will be wondering around animal in their wild habitat”
“This is not the show Animal Planet or National Geographic”

Those seals are pretty cute. Somehow most of the adults are gone and whats left are all the young pup, by their own…learning how to swim by themselves and learning how to hunt the food by themselves. No coaching from the small number of adult on the beach who are more concern about lazing and sleeping around.

Bark!!! Bark!!! Bark!!!

To be honest, if they don't move...I thought its a mass slaugter ground for seals

RIC WAS HERE!!!!

2.00pm

Heading South to Santa Cruz…. Lots of beach along the way and lots of surfers.

3.00pm
I lost my way in Santa Cruz and got drove myself into University College Santa Cruz, located within a Red Wood forest. Now I have to turn around and drive back where I came from. Just going to Drive around Santa Cruz and explore the place a bit. Small little City… nothing much...a small downtown area, smaller than Yishun.

5.00pm
Reached San Jose, the home of Silicon Valley. See nothing around Downtown except Adobe Inc, creator of the Photoshop software. I headed north on Route 82 towards Sunnyvale and Mountain View City. Chance upon my CD/ DVD burning software company ROXIO.

Stopped at a petrol station to use the washroom. I need to check the map again thus I turn on my Laptop and was surprise that this whole place is actually connected to a free GOGGLE WiFi network. That gave me an Idea… lets visit Goggle Inc!!!

Free WiFi!!! Brought to you by Google Inc

6.20pm
I was crazy enough not to finish reading about the History of Google before heading out where their company is located. The first time I read it, it said Menlo Park…so headed there and found no Google. Than I read its History again and realize it have move to University Avenue, Palo Alto…so headed there and found no Google. Finally realize after Google out grown their office in this two previous location, they have been relocated to 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in a building leased from Silicon Graphic Inc.

Not easy to search for this Search Engine... Finally made it.

No one work on Saturday...

Saw the Computer History Museum in the area but due to my flight schedule, I have no time to explore at all.

8.00pm
Headed back to the airport to return the car and catch my flight back to Dallas. Before that I have drove back to San Francisco City to take pictures of the Bay Bridge but did not cross it due to traffic jam.

12.30am 25/3
In American Airline AA530 on my way back to Dallas….time to sleep.