Friday, October 28, 2005
The past 10 days at BIOC (basic intelligence officer course)were spent:
-Being truly interested in the military (for once)
-Attending some really good lectures
-Falling asleep at some really bad ones
-Bravely asking questions, however stupid they may seem to be, in an attempt to cultivate the habit of active class participation and analysing/questioning what I learn, in preparation for Penn! (hopefully)
-Being singled out and tactfully made fun of for being a commando (so what's new)
-Grocery shopping for basic neccessities like bread and peanut butter, 3-in-1 milo, coffee sachets... ->declared to be one of life's funnest activities
-Study groups, questions, and more studying
-Discussions on (ihatetoadmititbut pretty interesting) military tactics
-Attempting to get out of my comfort zone by interacting with people i dont really know
-Being geniunely interested in conversations instead of pretending to be
-Setting up maps, drawing arrows and circles till 2 am
-Push ups and crunches every night
and most importantly..
-Seeing drastic improvements in my spoken Chinese by (trying) to interact with 3 fellow coursemates on exchange from Taiwan!
Yes, together with the help of other (more effectively bilingual) coursemates, we were able to explain military terms and tactics to them, laugh over lunch, tell dirty jokes, and even take them on a trip to visit Suntec City and the Esplanade. Lovely.
It's kinda humbling really, to see how my intent to communicate, interact and share be crippled by a language gap. It's like having too much to say but not having a mouth. It's made me more determined to improve my spoken Chinese before going to the US. So do speak Chinese to me the next time we meet!
he rocked the party at 10:53 AM |
Sunday, October 23, 2005
I cant believe i'd actually be blogging like i cared about TV, but what the heck.
ALEX GOT FIRED!!
(In the Apprentice, i mean)
What was Donald Trump thinking? The remaining three arent cool enough to garner my support. The business world is crumbling. Boo.
The USA needs me over there asap to save them from impending doom!
So UPenn, i've sent in the last bit of my application and it's all up to you now..
Accept me, please. (pleasepleaseplease)
Pray for me, dear reader..
he rocked the party at 10:04 AM |
Saturday, October 22, 2005
I've recently discovered the beauty of taking breaks. If there's something army has at least taught me, It's that there's no such thing as "getting all the work out of the way" in life.
Officership brought with it the privilege of taking charge of my own time and workload. I was often given a task to be completed in 2 weeks, or a month, or 6 months. "Enthusiasm" made me sacrifice that privilege to try and finish up that workload as soon as I could, in the (false) hope that the rewards of a lovely long rest would come my way. Ah, bullshit. Work never ends, no matter how hard you work, or how good your work is. In fact, the better you are, the more work seems to fly your way.. Life is disgustingly unfair.
And so today i've decided to screw the work, and leave the suffering back in the office. Enough weekend time has been burnt in the name of serving an army which i'm going to leave in all of 22 weeks. And heck, after a day out on the town and not worrying about anything, i feel much readier to take on the coming week.
Must not let work define who i am; i'm not in jc anymore.
Also, i've decided to be a little more positive about the whole ATEC thing. Sure, its a sacrifice and a little sucky to give up my leave, but i figure complaining about it kinda defeats the purpose of helping the commandos out in the first place. So i'm gonna suck it up, stand tall, and be proud in the knowledge that i'm sacrificing something to make a difference, something that some other people dont have the balls to.
he rocked the party at 10:25 AM |
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Ugh, its only the second day of the week and i'm burnt out already.
From university essay editing to Penn applying to testimonial getting to ATP-shooting to gf's-sister's-ROM to planning exercises to WITs figures accounting to report writing to ATEC planning to money tallying...
It's a classic case of life cramming too much stuff into a span of two days.
Sheesh, its worse than a Chan Brothers itinerary for kiasu Singaporeans.
And i'm sorry for the short meaningless entry, but I've gotta wake up at 6 tomorrow to start on my Intelligence Officer course.. 2 months away from the Battalion and all its sai kang! Hooray!
he rocked the party at 9:46 AM |
Friday, October 14, 2005
I have a sudden urge to choreograph a real kickass hip-hop item.
But i doubt that i have the creativity though.
D'ya think the SA dance alumni would give me a chance for next year's Rapture concert? Hmmmmmmmm.
Craig David's Walking Away (Ignorance remix), first heard at NUS Dance Ensemble's the Next Wave is one heck of a cool song!
he rocked the party at 10:57 AM |
On the advice of a USEIC counsellor, have added 2 more "backup" colleges to my prospective college list:
University of Chicago and
Northwestern University
Also, i have dropped my efforts in applying for Brown and Stanford. But since i already paid the registration fee, i guess i'll go through with them but submit only the minimal stuff.
Which means that I am now faced with monstrous application fees of approx US$70 per college, and SAT I and II scores of US$34 for each college!
That's like seven-frickin hundred US dollars, just for applications alone! Its a good thing SIA's helping to sponsor 3 universities, or my savings wouldve been so totally wiped out.
AND when i called Collegeboard.com, they put me on hold for like, forever. At least 45 mins to process some scores anyway. Gawrsh. Money's flying away..
he rocked the party at 10:41 AM |
Monday, October 10, 2005
Y'know, I'm starting to wonder if the civilian working world is as miserable as that of the army world. I mean, I took up the post of Dy S2 so that I could get a taste of what the office life is like, and not compromise on the exciting stuff that commandos has to offer as well. And well, if this is what a civilian office life is like, it's certainly very different from what i envisioned it to be.
I suppose I can say I like office life as it is when I've got a set jobscope to do. (And which doesnt make me extend my working hours beyond 8 to 6.. hehheh)It's the frickin' extra duties and arrows that fly towards me, office politics, commander-pacifying, co-worker relationships that are really frustrating. And im hoping (like mad) that the regimentation, the red-tape, the inefficiency and all the other crap found in the SAF wont appear out in the civilian world.
In the army, you dont get rewarded for being good at something. Usually, being proficient at a certain task simply means that you'd get arrowed to do it again and again, without question, because "you're so good at it waad..". On the contrary, a real bum whom everybody hates to give work to cause he'll screw it up, ends up having the most free time.
It's like a communist community, really, the way everyone gets paid the same amount, but one does more work than another. I suppose its more widespread in the army, when your salary (and future) is pretty much decided upon from the start. It may sound crazy, but money is a poor motivator when it comes to doing work for the army. Simply because its not. worth. it.
Needless to say, the sucking up to commanders by some superiors is disgusting. I suppose in a "communist" environment such as this, those that are trapped in it have no other alternative to boost their jobs in their favour. Its a sad sad world.
But it sometimes leaves me to wonder: Is the real world like this too?
I should just be a student for life.
he rocked the party at 4:33 PM |
Friday, October 07, 2005
I HATE BATTLE FRICKIN' PROCEDURE
so stop trying to make it sound as if i'm like super enthusiastic.
Stop wastin my final week before my S2coursefollowedbyExFalconfollowedbyATECstage1and2withVOLUNTARY-NO-FRICKIN-LEAVE by making me do your silly little exercise. I have a good mind to not extend my ORD anymore. Because its bothering me so much that I'm starting to not give a damn about your silly REDCON status.
24 more weeks.
he rocked the party at 10:03 AM |
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Sometimes, an opportunity in life comes along which you want so badly because you have become so sure of it. That every other possibility doesnt hold a candle to that number one choice, because when you think about it, the sun shines brighter, music fills the air and you know the whole world would become perfect if you get it.
UPenn is one of them. After tonight's UPenn introduction and talks with the alumni at the Old Parliament House (a charming, grand building with an excellent elegant atmosphere, i must add) I have never been so sure of which university I want to spend my next four years in. The way of life, the culture, the community and the opportunities, both academic and social, seem to be tailor-made just for me.
I know that i love it because i would have chosen if even if it werent for external influences like scholarships and friends' reccommendations. Forgive me if i sound like an over-enthusiastic prospective student, but i just can't help it.
UPenn, you are definitely getting my 101% effort for the application. Please don't disappoint me..
he rocked the party at 9:27 AM |
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Sometimes, when I'm senselessly wasting time looking through my photos in the dead of the night, I come across a gem such as this. Bravo Platoon 2, you are sorely missed. :)
he rocked the party at 10:46 PM |
Its a pleasant surprise to open the new paper and see my old sis-taah dance senior LYNN LIM staring back at me as one of the finalists for the New Paper New Face contest!
Well, who would have thought this silly dimpled girl who used to try to cross-dress me and give out nice simple presents would go on to become prom queen of sajc, and now this!
You go gal!
he rocked the party at 9:10 AM |
Saturday, October 01, 2005
I've been wanting to blog this for a couple of weeks now but i keep forgetting:
I think that girls look absolutely lovely when they've got eyeshadow on.
Dont ask me why, i just think so. Think it sort of makes them look sophisticated/sexy/glamourous. Woah. Hothot.
So, Fiona Xie, if you're reading this, make sure you put on eyeshadow the next time we go out ok? If not I'll go date Jessica Alba already..
(Go on, go on, say i'm deluded.)
he rocked the party at 10:48 AM |
Caught Corpse Bride today at cineleisure, and once again its an excellent display of the genius of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. I cant think of a single time I havent enjoyed the works of those two.
Though really really short (a little over an hour, duration definitely not worth the weekend price), but at least it was much much more satisfying than monday's Brothers Grimm, which was waaay too draggy with too many irrelevantly (in)significant effects.
Loved the dark brooding atmosphere, the warped illustrations of humans, the clever musical numbers (Emily has a really great voice!), and my personal favourite, the wonderfully bad puns and references to death and the afterlife.
Honestly. Punning may be considered by many to be the lowest form of humour, but in this society, it takes a certain amount of intellect to appreciate it. You'd never catch Army personnel getting those jokes.. ohhh no.
he rocked the party at 10:17 AM |
