..:: 342. The One With Ex HIPPO ::..

this week has been mentally and physically tiring... Had a drill session on mon morning... tiring sia.. wing SM said he wanted to drill us so that when we go back to OCS, the training there will be nothing. Mon raining so SOC was postponed till friday. luckily it was postponed, ya know why later... had a lecture on recce... i got 82% for my test the next day.. hee.. happy :)

then planning ex started on tue... it was intensive.. we got a turn out but there wasnt a nid to lay everything out. We received our warning order and started on our planning... From 2pm, we planned all the way till 8pm to know that we had to 'samula' aka re-do the ex... cos our OC was not happy with our performance. His 3 golden rules: treat the ex like in real ops; say what you mean, mean what you say; discipline. We seemed to be unable to meet timing cos lots of planning and writing... When we present in front of OC, confirm break into cold sweat. he wld zoom in to each word you say. then when he shoots a question, most of us will be stunned... i have compiled a list of what pointers to take note of... i copied like 8 pages of notes for the ex. took me 2 hrs to compile...

interesting sights you will see after 12am... people start to do things slowly... some stoned... some dozed off if they were not doing things for more than 10secs? We received our orders again around 2am. Can see people opening their mouth kinda wide... we planned till 430am then sleep. woke up at 530am for breakfast then continue planning. my greatest achievement was that i didnt close my eyes throughout the ex... unless its sleeping time... must thank all the red cross training i used to have... planning in the late nights... still remember i had evac lesson ard 12mn and pitch tents ard 2am + ... then still got turn-outs in the middle of the night when i was a cadet... Some concuss until u wake them, they also cannot stay awake for the next 5 secs.

We ended everything on thur night. got a good night sleep... but fri SOC was hell... had to do an orientation run then some of the obstacles there seemed higher than in OCS SISPEC... first time i didnt clear my swing traine aka monkey bar. cos it was just too slippery. no grip... after so many people with sweaty palms... i tried 5 times and i had no energy liao... bottle dropped out again. must buy rubber band to secure liao...

something shocking happened too... OC actually stripped pple off their ranks when they couldnt complete SOC... i understand his rationale in if a commander cannot do what your man do, then something is wrong. However, it was the first time after like 3 mths since we did SOC... Should at least give them a chance. Lucky me was chosen to take over the role of CPC. well dejavu... back to shouting and more shouting... no more man mode liao... worried about turn out cos i have to ensure everyone's equipment is servicable... and CO parade on 2 sept... stressed... and bridging CBRE, EOD all coming back...

Ex Zenia was fun... working with the OC-trainees at advanced training wing is interesting... the whole of next week is planning and i love it! fri cohesion day. go east coast, cycle and run for 12km. still got abt 13 weeks more in SOCE...

..:: 341. The One With Saturday ::..



I'm glad my friend invited me to this play. It was a superb one, i could not stop laughing thru'out the show. Now i know students in NTU SCI mostly drama-mama...

The Sex Life of Snails
The Odd Couple
Counting The Ways

after i had laughed my heart out, i desperately needed it back...

Then went over to Sun Plaza to watch The Maid with melvin, samuel, jeremy. i felt so stressed watching it. lol. cos they built up the tension so high, i guess my heart beat went up... several gd scenes, finally they are improving or honing their skills to shoot a gd horror movie. but several scenes really no link. perhaps they tried to link up old wives' tales to make the movie more 'heart-throbbing'. For the cold sweat and the irritating sound whenever there is the presence of the ghost, i give the movie 3/5 stars :)



During the Chinese Seventh Month, the gates of hell open and spirits are let loose upon an unsuspecting world. You know the story... NOt for the faint hearted. O_o

..:: 340. The One With 7th Week In SOCE ::..

...the best form of welfare is to ask you to shower after they turn u out before u book out...

after playing game (something like CS but lousier of course) at the computer room, we were instructed to change to our book-out attire, do area cleaning and stuff... prior to the computer lesson aka pc gaming i showered... our OC was DSO (duty staff officer so he had to stay in camp thru'out = more time to 'play' with us. so he 'gamed' with us and turned us out. i had to dig into the pile of sweaty uniform and refill my bottles which we had to empty before book out (great isnt it?).

Obviously, we could not meet the timing... we had to pack everything up, run up and come down in clean fatigue = cap plus fucking wet uniform :) then run up again, get our stuff and lay everything out in 7 mins.

oh ya, we had to be in pumping position and the OC talked for abt 5 mins? quoted (roughly)... this is how you feel when you are demoralised... and this will be how your men feel if they have to keep doing something again and again because you are unable to lead them well...

remember one time we had to everything in everything out within one min and we did like more than 10 times... he also mentioned about 'if you find a purpose in doing something you will be able to do it (meet the timing)'

i must say we are learning things from the OC in a hard way.

end of story. not really complaining... cos i'm kinda numb doing all the turn-outs. i just find joy in doing all the shack stuff... bring it on.

thur had a full day of lectures... i was quite upset on fri when they changed appointments... i didnt get one yet. haiz. that means my field PC appointment will come soon. next week we have a planning ex... i always sucked at being field PC.. perhaps low confidence and i always have the feeling i know less than others... But admin appointment is what i normally do in CCA... meeting timing, maintaining discipline... no sweat.

fri morning ippt... lol. my first station chin-ups could only hit 8. definitely demoralising cos it meant i couldnt get gold = no $200... yes i can always try again. But sianz... i'm glad my 2.4km run timing got better each time i run. I become so numb... in running. just like doing turn out. i aint using my brain nor focussing... just let my legs run. Perhaps in that way i dun feel shack mentally...

okayz, infantry guys not free so today cant meet them for farewell dinner :( going for a theatre play wif my fren... oh well, tml for mugging my precis and getting ready for a siong week ahead. the rest of the engrs joining us in two weeks time. cant wait.

everyone will be hoping to be the last CWC (cadet wing comd) cos the previous batch one was the sword of honour. but then again, would it be the same for our batch?

..:: 339. The One With Shopping Spree ::..

Pay came today and gone rather fast. Firstly, i had to pay for the limited edition watches i had ordered for my parents. Then i had to get ipod shuffle. was glad to get free accessories from the vouchers i got from buying the watches. Lastly, i had to extend my contact so i thought why not get a new phone. Hence i got N6201 for 40+ only. Still got rebate :) A phone with bluetooth but no camera -_- anyway i cant use camera phone for the next 1.5 yrs?

yesterday went chinablack again. initially there was no one at the dance floor. until about eleven plus, i regretted saying the dance floor was empty... it was damn packed until at certain point, i just stood at the dance floor for ten mins for people to pass... first time i had to 'retire' at the side cos i cant stand squeezing with people. Actually supposed to go gortam penthouse but no tickets... it was a jc party... i guess i would refrain from cb for a while...

tml got army family day... lol showing the public army lifestyle? army got life meh? sian booking in doesnt seem as fun as it was back in ocs... maybe its the pple at SOCE? back in ocs, i nvr dread booking in... with all my frenz bitching after RO and during breakfast the next day...

sad today overslept... didnt go sentosa. haiz... i miss the tan and didnt EXERCISE! arghz... my chin-ups.. die...

tml watching charlie and choco factory with my sis. hee... really enjoy these family times... and not to forget to visit my grand mother.

..:: 338. The One With Random Thots ::..

i forgot to add that last week, i was totally off... firstly mon we had 5 min stand-by bed so we had to rush up to the bunk and tidy up. when i opened my door i forgot to take the key out. As expected, one of the new instructors being guai lan took my key and asked me to see him at night. Whats worse, he opened my precis cupboard where it was supposed to hold books but i left my glasses, contacts there. Got a lecture from my wing sergeant major. :(

one of the mornings, i had to fall in without locking my door cos i couldnt find my key. sucky feeling, hence before the run i went up to check again and realised it was with my lock -_-

then one of the breakfasts, i remember reminding myself to take my stuff with me after spreading my bread. somehow i forgot, lucky my frenz kept the pass, id and key for me, cos when i went back, i couldnt find any. if not for my friend, i think if the instructors found it, i would get 3 x 7 extras.
before this, i left my id on the table but one of thestaff found it as she was checking for bread that may have turned mouldy...

close encounters man...

i had to write a 500-word essay for the key thing. damn stupid. somemore i am in charge of making sure no one misplaces his/her key and no door is to be left unlocked. if not, both parties get 7 extras aka guard duties which translates to weekend being burnt.

recently heard a lot of deaths going on. damn scary. every time i hear someone died, i would feel the chills. firstly was my friend's close friend in a bike accident. then my fren in ocs also told me, one of the cookhouse uncle also involved in a bike accident. :( treasure people ard u, i guess...

ok back to doing homework... wanna cach charlie n the choco factory and bewitched next book out. booking in tonight and out on mon night -_-

happy national day :)

..:: 337. The One With Stressful Week ::..

shall just touch on highlights of this week. had turn-out aka 7 mins on tue... had to do it 2 times and for field pack everything in in 1 min and out in 1 min. we did the everything in/out for dunno how many times until my hands become numb... then with all the sweat, we went into an air con room for 'warning order' for our mission planning exercise.

then wed plan until 0230, damn tired... whats worse was everyday morning got run... and thur we had ippt training. running 8 x 400m. i felt super dizzy... well at least most pple felt the same way.

this week has been very meaningful and i learnt quite a lot this week. all the planning and presentation... cos our chief instructor and another major were there. both were knowledgable and i can really learn without stress... OC super particular with AOP, everything also like cannot... everytime he comes in, we would all keep quiet. afraid his mouth would come out '7 mins'.

quite sian. book out still got lots of homework to do... OC was in high spirits today... whole day his lecture and he ended off telling us about his army life. he turned us out again as usual but didnt 'tekan' us. he gave us a recruitment talk... impromptu... the deal after u signed on sounds really tempting... 9 mths back payment and bonuses... interest is there. mmm...

anyway was quite disturbed and upset about peer appraisal that was done on tue... sometimes i also wondered how pple do the grading? i just knew that i was not as good as someone who sleeps in class... mmm... time to do some reflection... perhaps i am getting too comfortable in keeping a low profile... it seems like i'm back in sispec. cant really 'bitch' as much as i'm in OCS.

2 things i fear:
presenting AOP... really need more practice
pple see me as not performing or slack when i'm just trying to stay low.

my fave in america next top model cycle 4.. haiz but she didnt win :(