Just another day at work.

On November 12th 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia was launched into Orbit from Florida. On board was Astronauts Joseph H. Engle and Richard H. Truly , now respectable grandpa in their own rights.

On November 12th 1981 Riccardo was born, thats me. This year marks 26 years since the 1981 launch of STS-2 Columbia and thus I am 26 years old. I will still be in Air Force and in the Chinook community but its time to give myself a birthday present and control my own destiny. I am already thinking about leaving but I have no plans where to go and what to do...

I think I am sick, sick of work and its bad to feel so. I don't think I have seen everything in my career but I have seen enough for my appetite. Some work are fine, some work are not and those that are not are utter dread. Thats redundancy I'm talking about.

Than there is the think call secondary appointment which make me feel more like secondary career within a career. I am the Tools IC, TMDE IC, SA, SOAP IC, Information Technology and I am still a Senior Technician. Just too much secondary appointment for me to give a quality focus on any one of them. Here do a bit, there do a bit... I feel like patching holes here and there. Worst still, appointment like TMDE, the over all in charge is really bochup man and only activate his ass out of the chair when crisis strike. It make me really sian to sort things out for this appointment. It makes me wonder, will everything be in top notch condition if Mindef hire people just for the secondary appointment? Definite YES. For a start hire someone to be in-charge of Tools and TMDE which is critical to our operation. When thinks get busy with Aircraft work, there is simply no time to sort things out for secondary appointment and the only time to clean the shit is during Audit period. Mad rush here mad rush there and sweep everything under the carpet.

People I work with can be the best and the worst and the interesting. Those different characters can easily combine and form a story. I came out with nick name for a few of them.

--Dark Vader as you know is my boss, he likes to use a "light saber" during his briefing. You can almost hear the swinging "light saber" saying his surname ... He got the toughest job been sandwich between the down-stairs people and upstairs people.

--Justice Bao is also another boss of mine. Expect top notch discipline from everyone and recently his face got even darker when lecturing our guys on discipline and doing DI. I have a lot of respect for him but I also heard complains about him. Sigh, hard to be the bad guy sometimes?

-- Radio Women is loud, rough but harmless. LOBOing most of the time and like to play Suduko. I think she is the source of many noise pollution. But without her, I think our base might be a bit boring and too quiet. I hope she have a volume control for me to use.

-- Drift King a.k.a "Turn, Step Gas". I don't know if he really could drift or not in his car but he definitely drift when walking....drifting on air or water. Wonder if he is working smart or bochup, seldom see him in action.

-- Grumpy. My close colleague. Very competent, very hardworking but also very grumpy too. Sometime I like to ask him why he grumble so much? Anyway, he is the PP2 caliber kind of guy. Just need more grooming and packaging by the management.

-- Captain Commando. Recent addition of our "Middle Stairs" management. Highly decorated uniform he had during NDP observance parade. "Ice cream cone" (Parachute badge) here and there on the uniform.

-- Durian. Boss of the Engine section. Take care of his boys really well and alway outspoken.

-- Luke Skywalker. Another of our Middle management. A bit of a Harry Potter in him. Soft spoken but definitely hardworking.

--Kiasee. Very detail guy and particular about this and that. Like walking around the hanger before EODB.

-- Policeman. Don't play play with him. He patrol around everyday by himself. I don't like him...

Recently, I was approached and offer the opportunity to convert to Officer. I already have plans to switch over to Ops side as flight Engineer when I get back to Singapore but the Officer path does linger at the back of my mind. However, I am Riccardo and some of my thoughts and decision can be really radical so for the sake of the organization, I politely turn down the offer.

Just another day at work and another day of work tomorrow.