Sunday, July 18, 2004
Army update again (okay okay, i get it. You dont have to read this post if you're not interested. Go read my previous post where i actually have an opinion about something. But there's no stopping me from blogging about army stuff)
Anyway, yes, i survived Exercise Theodore 1! It was much much much much worse that All Out. Not to mention that it was graded. Ahh crap. Tekong is officially the worst place in Singapore. The smell, the mosquitoes, the sandflies, non-stop rain, cold nights.. and the list goes on. I didnt have time to eat. Yes, EAT! Not even to nibble on pukey combat rations. Well, it didnt help that they confiscated by ten bucks worth of civilian food which i sneakily snuck in my field pack, but foolishly surrendered on the second day before a bag check. (and they didnt even check!) Guy friends will understand that the combination of the lousy taste and large packet makes eating combat rations really difficult and takes a long time to finish. So heck, i hardly touched mine for the four days, and nearly starved to death. The longest period was not eating from breakfast on Wednesday to dinner on Thursday, when we were finally back in Hendon camp. Am a skeleton now.
Which results in this weekend's vow to binge on every meal, to eat until i cant eat anymore to make up for the lost time and three weeks ahead in Taiwan! Thank you to deb for accompanying me on my fish and co splurge, and yes, i wish fat osmosis was possible. -grin-
My stint as PL for the raid on Dogra Bridge didnt go as well as i expected, but i suppose i did my best in the time constraint. Gosh, what's it with officers and their obsession with warning and ops orders? My issue of orders to my commanders dragged to an hour instead of the 15 mins i had scheduled, thanks to OC, 2IC and my lane grader's constant cutting in. Think im the only PL unlucky enough to have three officers poking their noses into everything i did. Have some doubts whether i really want to try out for OCS. But as the song goes, "i was born to try.." But i suppose its no big deal if i dont get it. There ARE lots of other people with a much better attitude than me. Haha!
Anyway, im off to Taiwan tonight at 0130 hours.. anyone wanna send me and 66 other hunky commando leader trainees off at changi airport? hahaha.. It is the Land of the Ninja Van, which appears mysteriously to sell you food no matter how deep in the jungle you are. Undulating terrain, a huge Area of Ops, freezing cold nights.. 4 days of navex and 9 days of missions... im pretty excited actually. Theodore 2 will be important i guess. Hope i can perform. And once we're back, we can look forward to 2 slack weeks before our sergeant rank! So i'll be gone for three weeks, back on Aug 8 in the wee hours of the morning (i wonder why saf schedules its flights as such unearthly hours. then again, they have plenty of things to hide)
Till then, all you good friends are tasked with the mission to plan memorable and exciting meet-ups, gatherings, and get-togethers for Lionel's return after Aug 8... Deserving winners will, of course, be duly rewarded with Taiwan souvenirs. Any takers? hahaha seeya!
he rocked the party at 1:09 AM |
Oh gawwsh.. i just re-read my last entry. It sounds so horribly bimbotic and self-indulgent. Not to mention a tinge of ah-lian-ish tone and language. Gross. May elephants bite my armpits if i should ever blog like that again. (But then again, everyone needs their periods of self-indulgence. But i could have blogged it in a more tactful way)
Anyway, i've got lots to blog about! And i dont have a title for it.
First: Info obtained from Ah Girl (not her real name) at last night's council BBQ.. it seems higher authorities are reading this blog, and are wanting to see me for its contents! Outrageous.. tsk tsk. I stick to my stand, that im entitled to my own opinions of whoever i wanna bitch about. I dont care if he himself reads this blog, he deserved my dissing for that dreadful experience. Well, if he's gonna be mean to people, he should be prepared for a slight popularity dip yes? And heck, he should count himself lucky he got off with a one sentenced insult, since i am, after all, a nice person who just needs to voice out his frustrations. You should take a look at the stuff about him and his organization on other blogs. Oh yes. Now THAT is justice.
In short, ladies and gentlemen, it all lies in freedom of speech. We're all entitled to our own opinions of people, nice or not. I dont diss teachers and friends on my blog, which is really good already. So if a complete stranger (like ahem, mr head of THAT organization) deserves my dissing, i'll dish out the dissing for dessert with plenty of dressing! (oo that has a nice ring to it).
Blogs are rampant in other colleges as well, with much much much worse stuff about people closer to the writers, and i dont see anything wrong with that really, as long as its done with enough tact and taste, the sting is still pretty much effective, and benefits to the writer are wonderful. Barring people from doing so is equivalent to being arrested by the police because you said something bad about some MP at Speaker's Corner. So there. That entry stays.
5 year goal for my blog: to attain a faithful readership of a few hundred a day, like some blogs i've recently visited. Amazing! Wonder how these normal Singaporeans do it. Its not as if they write really interesting stuff or anything. But i guess i'll have to blog everyday to achieve that, and before that, i'll have to ORD first. Grr.
he rocked the party at 12:42 AM |
Sunday, July 11, 2004
I believe this week has had the most ups and downs i've ever faced in such a short time. Im emotionally drained. (and definitely not ready for graded exercise Theodore 1 in Tekong in a few hours time. sigh)
The loss of him came much too suddenly. Im surprised at how i feel about it. Am i really that heartless? I know that i'd feel more remorseful if i was younger, cause i was much closer to him then. But now, with all the distractions and irritants of life, maybe his importance to me faded away a little? And now its too late to make it up.. i just hope that he knows, that even though i dont show it, he holds a place in my heart. But even so, maybe im hiding it a little too well. Been acting quite the bastard for this episode, and on purpose too. Perhaps its just that i have too many things to do, or that i dont wanna think about it and focus on them. In any case, i ask for forgiveness.. Im sorry i dont feel as remorseful as i should, i feel more for those who grieve, and that's what's preventing me from being a total ass. Perhaps when everything's settled down, and i realise fully the meaning of his absence, thats when it'll hit me totally.
Dear reader, if you dont understand what i just wrote, dont worry. You're not supposed to. Just needed to type it out.
On a lighter note, my hair grew longer! I can actually spike it a little with gatsby wax now.. -sniff sniff- ahh.. love the smell of the wax.. reminds me of my SAJC days
Unfortunately, i dont look as good as i should have been, because i got bitten by sandflies again! At least four big ones have appeared on my left cheek, scarring me once again.. crap. At least these look like they'll heal faster than the previous batch.. please dont let me get any more during Theodore.. i'll just die from ugliness. We had night's out on Wednesday night and i almost died from the shame of appearing in Tampines mall with my jumbo red ears and pimply sandfly bite face. Chienling's such a darling, to be able to hold my hand and tell me im still good-looking. If there's a test to tell whether your partner is superficial or not, this is it. You are such a darling, dear, to see beyond the ugliness and imperfections, and i love you for it. :)
I think the SOC cheating incident was quite bastardy. All it took is for one idiot to destroy all the trust and hard work we've so carefully built up for the past week. But maybe he has his own side of the story. I dunno.
Went back to College Day, and it was a dream come true! You know how i always wanted to stand proudly on stage while the emcee describes your achievements? Well, okay so i wasnt prepared for such a long description, so i was a little taken aback by the attention, but heck, its a hell of an ego boost. -grin- Watching my favourite tutor talk in the video was a real pleasure too. Cheers to you, Ms Lee! And dont get me started on watching our favourite dance society -grin- Pure ecstacy, as always. Am so proud of you guys.
Spoke to some of the incoming 27th as well, and whaddayaknow, the next PRO is from Trust, is from SJI, is handsome, and was my trainee in Scouts! The tradition of good-looking, member of Trust PROs still carries on..hahaha! To the 27th, good luck! There's a good vibe from this batch, although they need to work on their spontaneity, and Liang Fu and I concluded. -evil grin- Meeting once-close friends, teachers, and of course, our very own Zaki brought back warm fuzzy memories as well. I hope i'll never forget them, and i hope they're not lost forever. "Once a Saint, Always a Saint"? I hope its true.. It was College Day, and i loved every minute of it.
A heartfelt goodbye to one of my closest buddies, Lim Kuan Sian, as he embarks on his exciting journey down under to begin University life! Please, oh please never let anyone else hear your cheer (Give me a Q! Give me a U! What does that spell? QU!! i cant hear you!!..) I'll miss you buddy, but at least its only for four months before you're back. Dont ever forget me.. you've been warned! And of course, to Maddie as well, going to the same place.. im sorry i didnt say bye, but know that i WILL miss you and your nonsense. (no kidding!) Good luck snaring hunky rich Aussie guys!
Fast forward to now, just after a prata supper with about-to-leave-for-upenn-best-friend Debbie.. you never fail to pick my week right up again. :) Maybe you're right about OCS, and i should give it a try. Its not gonna be easy tho, but thanks for inspiring me again.. hee. And im booking you for the next three weeks after i come back from Taiwan!
OK, i better sleep. I need my rest for Theodore 1, if i wanna do well and go to OCS. Hmm, am going to Taiwan next sunday for the next three weeks. Sounds like torture. Do pray for me!
he rocked the party at 9:44 AM |
Sunday, July 04, 2004
"Shagged cannot think issit?" Common phrase used by Commando instructors after SOC, during our missions at 4am in the morning, after 35km route march, and all ther instances where 1)yes, we ARE shagged, and 2)in case you didnt know, its very hard to think clearly when you're in that state of fatigue. Then we get knocked down cause we "shagged cannot think"
Im shagged. In terms of NS. Im tired of the same old camp, same old drills, the burnt saturdays, the muddy clothes, itchy feet, lonely nights, long periods of boredom, trudging through the mire and mud, stupid beauracratic system, and everything that makes NS suck.And i still have 1.5 years to ORD (yes, even with the reduced NS liability) Mornings are spent forcing myself to wake to face yet another day or uncertainty, and wondering why im there in the first place.
Its not that i cant take the training. Training's tough, but its not impossible, as long as you've got the psyche to do it. Its more like, wondering what life would be like if i didnt have to serve NS. It'll be wonderful. There's just so many exciting things to do in the world out there.. i could join a dance competition with my dance friends, i could join MTV,i could learn to drive, jet off to Hong Kong for lunch, Malaysia to backpack, New York to watch broadway, i could plan a proper anniversary celebration for my gf, i could even be studying for my SATS 2 or be preparing to go overseas to study. (right now, SATS 2 prep has been reduced to lugging 2 huge SATS practice books to camp and only managing to do 10 questions during our meagre free time. Sad right.
And it seems like everyone else is prep-ing themselves up for a whole new exciting phase of their lives! Like my great friends jetting of to Australia forever (whassup man Kuansian my buddy, wish you all e best there.. dont con too many aussie babes!) and dear old deb who'll be leaving for (hopefully) my future Uni UPenn real soon, and even our singapore gals who're about to go for uni orientations and stuff. Im jealous.
And what the heck are we doing? Carrying our FBO and bashing our way through the smelly jungle. I dont care how many talks we have to tell us how important NS is, i think its a waste of time. When i become President i shall do something about it.
For now, i have to put on my ID tag, wear my camp pass, and lug all my stuff back for another week at camp.. and hopefully find some meaning in what we're doing. Adios!
(oh something to cheer me up.. this friday i shall be attending College Day to get my prizes! Money money money.. haha.. anyone coming along wanna go together? Drop me a message!)
he rocked the party at 5:30 AM |
