Something’s brewing up..

I was reading an article about the Chinese building up their naval power and expanding their naval presence to the middle east and to shipping lanes in the pacific. They’ve announced that they are protecting the core interests of China’s security, sovereignty  and economy. There are some dramatic changes in their military development, including long range ballistic missiles that could be used against aircraft carriers, the development of Chinese aircraft carriers and the existence of a new subterranean submarine base, able to launch submarines into the South Chinese Sea within 20 minutes.

According to experts, there are no signs of any aggressive tendencies from China to really start anything with other countries.. but then again, China has been able to surprise us in the past. And the current state of the US military and other NATO forces really shaken my faith that they’d be able to resist such a sophisticated contemporary army.

This reminds me of a time just before World War One. When the British Empire was the World’s superpower, owning 1/6 of the world’s land mass. The British army was so caught up fighting “savages” and protecting their colonies abroad that they became an inefficient fighting force against a modern enemy. They were fighting tribesmen with bows and arrows and protesters armed with pitchforks in places like Egypt and India. Prior to WWI, there was a conflict in South Africa called the Boer War, in which the resource rich inhabitants were resisting British rule. According to all those history lessons from school, the British did very poorly against the Boers because their tactics against savages simply did not work against enemies with modern tactics (and guns). The Brits eventually won with overwhelming numbers and caused the enemy to surrender. But as WWI broke out against Germany, the Brits were outdone. They just weren’t used to fighting conventional armies. Eventually the allies triumphed with overwhelming numbers.

Coming back to the present, I feel that the Americans are in the position of the Brits. Overextended (as proof of their current economic situation) and their military used to fighting savages, insurgents and hit & “run” suicide bombers. The whole military training doctrine has changed from Cold-War era to War of terror. If all out war were to break out against China, they are more prepared, better equipped and have the largest army and economy in the world (which is what won us the wars in years past, numbers and resources).

Just my opinion, but we should really stop investing huge amounts of resources into fighting terrorists in the middle east and start investing a bit more money into technological advances for better aircraft, better naval vessels and better defenses against cyber attacks.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/06/cyber-espionage-research.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/world/asia/24navy.html

Happy Vaisakhi!

Today, Sandy and I celebrated Vaisakhi, a Sihk festival celebrating the arrival of the harvest season. Waking up at 8 in the morning (I know, that’s a HUGE feat for someone like myself), we headed for the temple and joined in on the festivities. We helped with the food preparations, took some pictures and had some fun. I got a turban wrapped around my head and got to meet JUSTIN TRUDEAU! (yes, he’s the son of former PM Pierre Elliot Trudeau!) I think I was the only one super excited to meet him… and I didn’t get to take a picture with him! *cries*

This was a good year!

It’s my platoon and I! The training year is over and it’s time to give some other unworthy Lieutenant a chance to prove himself. To sum it all up, we did Live fire bush lanes, Camp security & VCPs, FIBUA training and some Full Spectrum Ops. Couldn’t have asked for more fun in a year. Thanks to my staff for doing a good job and to the individual soldiers who bring so much to this Regiment. UP THE GUARDS!

Money?!

Where’d all my money go?!  Shiiiiiet…

So my sweet Victoria (my car) is still a little banged up.. There were two little “incidents” where she got damaged, and to avoid all the judging eyes on the streets, we taped her back up with some packaging tape. Only temporary sweetie, I swear. Here’s a few photos of how it looks currently.

Before the tape job, there was just a gaping hope there. It was horrendous! You could see the styrofoam in there too.. So embarassing! In any case, I picked up a new front bumper from Ricki and today I’m meeting up with Josée to get it painted. Next week, I’ll meet up with Han and get it installed and change back to my summer tires and rims. Woo!! Just in time for summer too!

Regimental birthday ball

The Canadian Grenadier Guards celebrated their Birthday on Saturday, March 13 by hosting a banquet downtown. Various guests were invited, including all members of the regiment, honorary members, the mayors of our designated boroughs and our dates.

Great turn-out as usual, I even got the opportunity to meet briefly the mayors of Roxboro-Pierrefond, Beconsfield and Bay-D’Urfay! I was appointed the ‘Aide de champ’ for the pro-Mayor of Roxboro-Pierrefonds.

Overall it was a great night. There was a professional photographer present and the troops dragged me into a couple of their shots. We did a few wacky poses I’ll post some photos up once we get the prints from the photographer.

So. Epic.

This is why I love Hollywood. It’s full of action, drama and sexy women doing what the average women don’t. It plays to our fantasy, often dictating to the mass about how people should look and behave.. which isn’t always a good thing. But it throws ideas out there, an abstract belief that this is how current trends on society believe you to behave, and how they change over time. If you are an avid movie-watcher, which I’m sure most of us are now-n-days, can tell how trends change over time just by watching the trends in movies. The way we dress, the slang we use and the actions we take.. these are all ideas that drive our culture, our state of mind.. we evolve.

This is a compilation of about 50 movie trailers in 3 1/2 mins. This is one of the most epic things I’ve watched in awhile and it inspires me. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

oh the internets!

Oh the internets, corrupting young children people all over the world and creating the social class of noobs for us l33t ppl to enjoy pwning. Makes you wonder about globalization and if developing too fast can be a bad thing.. like in the event that technology advances faster than culture does.. the newer generations will grow up on youtube and hollywood rather than learning about the history/culture of their local communities.

Been watching a lot of Lost lately. Almost done season 2 with Sandy.. we have 3 1/2 seasons left to go before we catch up to the last season. By then, the last season will probably be over and I can just download it and watch it all at once! I really hope the do a good job with it and start answering some of those mysteries.. but according to this catchy song/video.. it’s not looking good.

Another trailer for the last Air Bender came out and I’m stoked! I can’t wait for the movie to come out! I’ve watched most of the cartoon series and I absolutely love it. Really sparks my imagination on the flow of nature and the elements.