..:: 328. The One With First Day at SOCE ::..

that wed was a screwed-up day. firstly, i thought i would go for a laundry service ard 3pm and then head for SOCE at nee soon camp. unfortunately, i realised i have depleted my allowance cos i used my card for my friend's 90+ bucks worth of ice wine. desperately, i rushed home to use the washing machine. suay suay, my G2000 long sleeve white shirt and the collars of my ocs white admin shirt all had turned light green.

dashed out of my hse after packing my stuff and it was close to 5pm and i had to be there by 6pm. while waiting to cross, i saw my bus just drove past me. frantically, i had to source for my friends whom i could hitch a ride. i got on the next bus, sensing something amiss... i think my card has no value liao... and i was spot on. feeling paiseh, i dug into my coin section and found i only had around seven cents plus. lucky the uncle did not make a big fuss. i sunk into my seat, feeling stunned.

in the end, i shared a cab with my gd friend. when we were reaching the gate, a super big bridging vehicle had to go into nee soon camp too... what gd timing. we had to wait for like 5 mins when we were already running late. running and pulling the duffel bag made me damn shack.

lucky us. we made it just on time. but my shirt was totally drenched.

oh btw the seniors were very nice, they showed us how to do a 7-min stand-by field pack. everyone fall in the parade square and once the IC shouted, everyone made a mad dash up to their bunk to get their stuff and came down to arrange.

more crazy stuff at SOCE though... like 5-min stand-by bed. Rationale very simple, we have to be operationally ready and your bunk should always be in stand-by condition so 5 mins touch up would be enough.

think i touch on stand-by bed before, i find it really useless to standardise things in the cupboard just for the sake of stand-by bed. when i become platoon comd, i definitely ask my men to arrange their stuff they would be using neatly. Putting a toothbrush and toothpaste for display is useless... people definitely would use shower foam, facial wash.

first few days in SOCE were kinda scary. We spent lots of time with the OC. No one dared to sleep in his lectures. firstly, no one would want extras. secondly, his lectures were so impt that you could not afford to sleep. His style was to have a simple test after each lecture he taught which was good in a way as the stuff really got drilled into your head.

He also spoke with lots of negativity. At least my wing comd in foxtrot gave more encouraging words like 'if you show me you have positive attitude in learning, i would pass you'. For my current OC, he loved to emphasise the number of cadets he failed... 'if you let me see or have a slight feeling that you are not confident in leading, i would not hesitate to fail you.' one of our course mate had a same name as the senior, he said, 'we also have a gabriel, but you know where is he? He is now a sergeant' meaning, that cadet out of course liao.

arghz... i didnt make it for the EOD selection. I felt so stupid, but then again my frenz told me the behaviour survey was part of it too... guess i'm not very engineer kind of person, or rather i'm more counsellor than architect. so now my hope lies in bridging... cos i dun wanna stay in field engineer and get tekan in SOCE...

we had an orientation where we were warned by the seniors to keep singing and keep in steps if not it would become a tekan session. In the end, we still did more 100 push-ups cos they were part of physical training.

today fri was kinda slack cos we were told we came in one day early. -_- i desperately needed the day to rest lo...

today was fun cos we got to take our basic driving theory test. i hope i can get a license thru the army. that would be cool. seeing so many signs, the test seemed difficult. had to re-do a few times to get a 90 mark pass. some did like more than 10 times still couldnt clear.

before we booked out, we had a 2 hr long test to see how much we have learnt the past 2 days. had to bring back precis and study... yawnz...

pretty happy i got to enjoy a 5-day work week. booking out on fri was nice even though its 2330. but i dun think i would get to enjoy much fri book outs. schedule gonna get more packed and tue we would know where we would be split into for the next 7 weeks.

pay day coming... hee...

desperately wants to club. any takers?

..:: 327. The One With Brunei Overseas Training ::..

Disclaimer: Super long post. May be unsuitable for some readers.

SOCJOT - Support Arms Officer Cadet Jungle Orientation Training

Reaching Changi Airport and having a look at the departure schedule, i could not help but had this surge of excitement like i was going on a holiday even though it was an overseas training.

some of my ocs infantry buddies were kind to see us off... melvin, calvin, alvin and denzel... flight was at 2+ am and when i touched down at brunei around 4+ am, i was frustrated cos i had not finished watching my krisworld movie provided by the SIA. It was quite a turn-off when one of my instructors took over the captain and use the PA system to tell us to fall in and stuff. that rowdy voice

From the airport to Lakiun Camp was like a freaking 7-hr transport. First by bus then ferry then bus again. Most of us simply 'concuss' throughout.

Place there was ok, all of us sleep in double-decked beds. heard the whole place was built by 30 SCE (unit of combat engineers, not the numbers) mmm... sleeping near the entrance was good cos can fall in easier but got fatigue duty, easy to kena. Can charge phone but mine no reception. sianz.

training started with letting us try out combat swim. the instructors over at the Lakiun Camp were very nice and funny. Got this warrant who could not pronounce propoerly... combat swim became combat shrimp. Obviously he became the first person everyone imitated. Then came this LTA-who-got-promoted-to-CPT instructor who loved to use 'long zong zhang zui' aka All 'bathe' together meaning all get wet together during combat swim. 'lup cheong' also his fave pet peeve.

Then came the compass course which i already knew i was a left drifter long time ago in one of the SISPEC exercises. dunno why have to do it again. perhaps familiarise again ba but its super waste time.

Next day, we had our guided navex. I had a very experienced warrant with us so he taught us some of the jungle survival skills. it was damn fun eating fruits that he plucked and were edible. It was a good exercise as for our batch jungle survival course was taken out. I also ate leaves... tongkat ali... some afrodisiac stuff... bitter as usual but not as bad tasting as the TNT flakes that i had tasted. 0_0 lol.

Then the 4-day exercise started. Ex Nomad and Ex Mountain Rat.
We had to find 2 checkpoints then head for a log point where we are transported to the base of Mount Biang. We then had to ascend 1388m and descend. Everything done with a fieldpack. total weight about 20+ kg.

Survival Tip: When navigating in the jungle of Brunei, follow the ridge lines rather than do bashing like in Tekong

Why? cos there are a lot of hidden knolls and ravines that are not reflected in the map. Follow the tracks that people have been created would be safer and less chances of being 'hollanded' (army lingo for lost). Following the correct ridgeline can be challenging. What seems to be the correct route may meander until its no longer in your direction of move.

Survival Tip: Plotters are very important cos u'll be travelling for more than 1km for each checkpoint. Look out for white/black tapes, they helped

Survival Tip: Wear gloves

i didnt bring my gloves and my hands got super dirty. Finding checkpoints there was not anything near tekong. Sometimes have to climb a near 90-degree slope or even slide down one in order to cross a stream. My pants were dirty just few mins after we set off cos we had to slide down this muddy slope.

Survival Tip: Request permission to bring jockey cap

some groups did not bring along jockey cap so throughout the exercise, they had to wear helmet. Though its safer but you will get tired and sweat more easily.

Warning: Signal set is freaking heavy cos you need to bring 300% batteries and also some of your own stuff

i set a challenge for myself which was to carry the signal set when descending Mount Biang... Ascending it we took 1.5 hours. Descending in total we took about 7 hours. Shocking right? We could not go down the way we came up cos we had to go a river crossing point which was the end point. As we descend, we kept climbing up cos there were lots of hidden knolls and lots of detours had to be made. Whats worse, our dear instructors decided that the 4 groups should navigate together. Movement was super slow and i thought my spine gonna break. Had to sit down everytime they halted.

By the way for the whole exercise we had to drink river water by putting purifying tablets inside. Definitely tasted weird. See all the mud and sand, i also felt insecure.

Survival Tip: Fill up water bottles to the max if you ever have the chance

we had to fill our bottles to the max at the last possible stream before we start ascending. We were reminded that there would be no water source until you reached the river crossing site. Rationing water supply was super important. A few of the guys i knew, jiasheng, alex had heat exhaustion but both were quite mild. Many left less than half a bottle while descending. Some even gulped down all when someone tried to boost the morale by saying we were reaching. Everyone cursed and sweared after that.

Survival Tip: Can boost morale by putting black tape on some thin tree bark

I dunno how to describe the shagness cos i overcame dunno how many near 90-degree slopes. Sometimes with almost nothing to hold on to except digging my nails into the soil. If you are not careful and fall, you will find yourself 50m rolling down the slopes. If there were any casualties, the whole team would have to be responsible for evacuating the guy. Walking already so shag, imagine you have to evacuate a person. I had to cross 10 rivers/ravines throughout my ex nomad.

The navigators from my group were superb. We found our first check point at 9am, just one hour after we started off at 8am. Our second checkpoint was tough and it was like 2km linearly on the map but in reality we travelled more than 3km and found the checkpoint at 1pm. It was an amazing feat.

We then had to go to the log point to be transported to the base of mt biang. However we were not as lucky this time. We had to back track so many times until we were quite demoralised. We wanted to hit several intermediate points to confrim our location but was not successful. We had to harbour for the night by 5pm.

Survival Tip: Bring hammock and set up big fire to dry clothes

hammock was very shiong to sleep on. but first night i could not sleep cos my group mate beside me was snoring super loud! Putting on dirty and wet clothes the next morning sucked. super low morale.

We planned on hitting immediate points in order to reach a passage point which will lead us to our log point. However we could not find any and accidentally hit the log point. Bedlam broke loose... we were at the log point around 1pm the next day. kinda disappointed cos if we could be starting to climb mt biang...

When we had reached the log point, we got transported to a bridge and was told that we had to walk 3km of granite path and another 2km+ of muddy path to the base of mt biang. wah, i almost fainted. I thought walking 3km was easy but under the hot sun and helmet with the load, i was kinda drained. Then we had to walk this farking muddy path which looked like it would never end. Boots were all dirtied and we had to cross slippery logs and by 5pm, we still had not ascend mt biang.

Survival Tip: Bring slippers though the pack list didnt include. Good for powder bathing and you would not want to wear your boots to move around

By the second day i was feeling disgusting, 1001 types of germs on me and i could not change new set cos i only brought one extra set which was my pajamas set. I realised on that night my ex-buddy was a pyromanic. I think he cannot live without lights. The first night when he was doing sentry duty, he kept flashing his torchlight and i could not sleep. I took a peep at what he was doing:
* (symbolising switching on/off his torch)

*fliped over his jockey cap on his webbing*
*scanned the ground around him*
*opened his fieldpack and adjust the flaps and closed it*
*flashed at one of the hammock (somemore on the face of that guy)*
*scanned the ground again*
*flashed at my face*
*flashed at my fieldpack*
*flashed at the clothes line*

w-h-a-t t-h-e h-e-l-l!!!

second night, he kept asking us to burn the biscuits to keep the fire going when we are not going to cook anymore! Biscuits are for eating even though they can be used as fuel. My friends and i were rolling our eyeballs...

i think it has become a habit and he seriously has no light discipline. That explains why every night when we shared the same bunk he only switched off the lights like around midnight. I wondered if he's afraid of darkness...

third day, we started to climb the mt biang... i thought ex nomad was no kick as the slopes were mostly 60-degree but come to climbing mt biang... every 90-degree slope we see, we all would say 'wah biang'. my thigh muscles and shin, ankle were already hurting. Nevertheless, we could go up rather fast cos our navigators were good. we reached the top at 9am and left messages for the foxtrot infantry people. so guys next time if you are going up, look out for the message. lol.

Survival Tip: During ex nomad, if we encountered a river, we would sing 'cry me a river'. When movement slow, we would sing 'I like to move it move it' fun and kinda boost the morale

Coming down was nightmare... we were led by the logistics people whom hollanded until out of area of operation... But we cant blame them... navigation was really difficult and may require recce at times. In the end, tempers flared cos everyone was tried and short of water. Travel in single group was definitely better. At least if you walked the wrong way, you only got your own group to blame and it made travelling easier and faster.

When we reached the river crossing site at 5pm, we were told that 2 out odf the 4 groups that reached together could get to cross the river and head back to camp. We were pissed but then no choice had to harbour for the night and only cross tml morning. I was angry also cos i used up my clean pair of uniform thinking that we would have made it by today. In the end i had to sleep with only my underwear on... it was cold only at 4am.

Survival Tip: There were not much mosquitoes. I didnt get bitten except for some sand flies but only itch for like a few mins. heng.

Survival Tip: Secure your helmet if you are not wearing it

A few guys got their helmets roll off the slopes and you would never get them back if they roll down.

Survival Tip: Bring chocolates if you are not eating the 4 days of combat rations

Survival Tip: Keep all the wrappers

Over there, they got trash inspection and they account for every single trash. every tissue wrapper must get back every single one. Before we set off they would do an inspection of whatever you brought out. Each green pack has to be accounted for and all the other stuff.

Survival Tip: Get a clean mess tin cos you would want to cook

Survival Tip: bring extra sets of uniform (they will issue uniform)

Survival Tip: If during inspection, you are short of wrappers, cut some and black tape them to increase the number of wrappers

Survival Tip: Bring only white trash bags and all the plastic bags will be accounted for

Survival Tip: Sharp objects like jack knife, fork all must be in your duffel bag

you wouldnt want to be hold up at the scanning area at the airport

For your information, of the 15 teams, only 4 teams managed to find two checkpoints and whats great was that the 4 teams were all engineers team. :]

Some headed straight to climb mt biang after they found one. :[

We all came back early cos we settled our stores early and had lots of canteen break and basically lazed around.

Then we moved out of the camp at 0530 on 5th july. Took bus then ferry to HQ Lancer to put down our hand luggage and headed for R&R (rest and recreation).

We went to visit the largest mosque in brunei built by the 29th Sultan of Brunei. All those in gold are made of real 24-carat gold. 29 domes, 29 doors, 29 steps... Brunei was quite a nice place... perhaps its tax-free. The mosque looked super grand.

Then we went to look at a building the sultan built to store gifts given by others. Got to know about his life and also a few replicas of the gifts, the crowning ceremony and tools they used.

Lunch was supposed to be buffet but we kena cheated. Hungry ghost at our table and i simply lost my appetite looking at him scooping a lot into his bowl. -_-

We then went to visit the famous water village and explored one of the resident's home. Cooling... and water taxi was cool too...

After which we got to visit a place where they displayed the oil refining stuff and the arts. boring... cos most of us were more interested in shopping.

yeah its shopping time but i think the shopping trip was the most sucky one. Only can see but cannot buy. Why? The only thing cheap there was VCDs/DVDs... 3 bucks leh. and the quality was good. During the bus trip, we got to watch wars of the world. Pirated so we could not buy. arghz. we were so tempted and the CDs shops were like the only thing. In the end, we all sat down, ate and chatted.

dinner was really buffet but no refill. sucks right?

Survival Tip: Take the dishes for the whole table

That way you get to eat more and no need to keep queuing cos the food would be gone before you know it.

Night time was the finale, my fave. We went to the super big 20 hectares amusement park. But only like a few rides were opened. I tried everything like at least twice and i actually went for some which i did not even imagine i would go for... vertical drop... rollercoaster that flip you 360-degree... adrenaline was rushing man... many of us our lup cheong were like in our mouths... balls all shrunk that night.

Survival Tip: Take off your specs and stuff before going for rides
Got one guy i know his specs flew... lol

Nothing beats coming back home in SIA plane... watching krisworld and still cant finish what i watched... arghz.

stay tuned i guess... i used almost 2 hours typing this entry... now haf to wash uniform and gotta book in soon. arghz. heard soce is a terrible place... *prays*

..:: 326. The One With Inside Your Heaven ::..

Inside Your Heaven

I've been down
Now I'm blessed
I felt a revelation coming around
I guess its right, it's so amazing
Everytime I see you I'm alive
You're all I've got
You lift me up
The sun and the moonlight
All my dreams are in your eyes

I wanna be inside your heaven
Take me to the place you cry from
Where the storm blows your way
I wanna be earth that holds you
Every bit of air you're breathin' in
A soothin' wind
I wanna be inside your heaven

When we touch, when we love
The stars light up
The wrong becomes undone
Naturally, my soul surrenders
The sun and the moonlight
All my dreams are in your eyes

And I wanna be inside your heaven
Take me to the place you cry from
Where the storm blows your way
And I wanna be the earth that holds you
Every bit of air you're breathing in
A soothing wind
I wanna be inside your heaven

When minutes turn to days and years
When mountains fall, I'll still be here
Holdin you until the day I die
And I wanna be inside your heaven
Take me to the place you cry from
Where the storm blows your way


I'm off to brunei...

..:: 325. The One With CAC ::..

took a cab down to teochew building where this year's red cross youth current affairs competition was held. seriously why i prefer to organise an event is that i can keep myself busy. being a tabulator is like being a pack of frozen chicken in a fridge of KFC. Firstly the room was so hot initially as the air con would be switched on at 8am only. Shortly, the room felt like it was a freezer. Then, had to wait from 730 to 1000 before the first score sheet arrived. (just like chicken waiting to be cooked). Made full use of my ipod shuffle, helped to finish the food that the judges could not finish, watched scary movie 2 using someone's laptop.

wah... this year's committee got a small token of appreciation!!! Last year i dont have! lol. Ar... i also dun fancy having one either. just bitch for fun :X

Any juniors wanna take up as chairperson next year? seriously, i feel that we should let more juniors be involved in the planning or organising committee... For most events, the juniors played very minor roles. Mostly helpers... the seniors held on the impt roles so the question is when will they step down? probably when they are busy... but then again, many can say juniors take up minor roles to learn and gain experience before they are allowed to single-handedly take up postitions. True, but how long will it take? for someone like me who hungers to go all out and explore, i would most probably be disheartened having to be a helper for like more than 2/3 events.

thus i support new blood! When i organise events, i also have to experiment. Just like organising the amazing race for link cadets, i have never been a 'helper' in link activities before. Maybe i'm a weird person? i just love the kick of organising events, put some twist to them, see them happen and enjoy the sense of achievement and fruits of labour. That's the way to live my life man, a more meaningful one.

I got people asking me why i still go back to volunteer after i have graduated... It does not just end there. Volunteerism is something fulfilling and kinda like a life-long learning thing. It does not have a destination but just a journey where along the way you meet people who naturally will form your network and that's the way to be resourceful. *gosh* i'm starting to spill crap liao... too serious for my blog!

Must agree with shannen that some guys are really shallow... Some guys in the army would normally equate beauty = being thin. I cant imagine when they like a girl, she must first be thin? like 'what the hell'? I had a hard time trying to convince some of my friends that if i like a girl, size, looks definitely not the first priority. Someone who shares same chemistry, interests, talent that you appreciate... these i believe definitely more important than being thin, having nice slim legs. It's kinda frustrating when you have friends saying that your female friend is the 'big size' type and loves to eat... when she definitely has more substance.

anyway a few days ago, i was travelling home alone. Sometimes being alone is really nice, can do some reflection, observe people... After scanning through the young female sec school girls (i'm no pervert ok!), i realise that my sister being so hiao (reads: dress to impress?) was justifiable or at least it must have been a common disease. Looking on the bright side, my younger sis finally has fashion sense. lol. Whats with all the finger accessories? Lucky the girls have only ten fingers to play with... Denim skirts and jeans so common, they should change to leather someday 0_o. Sec school girls wear OP, Billabong... High sch girls upgrade to MNG, etc... My dear sis is obsessed with handbags! The other time i had to look for my ipod shuffle, i have to look through like 10+ of them. *faints*

Lucky my sis does not need some useless vapour to make her smell good, nor does she need to practise her art on her toe nails. If not i think when i give her monthly allowance, she will spend it within one day.

Something also freaked me out... Guys who wear super short shirt, the type that expose ya belly button. speak with a super 'teh' voice (reads: whiny). Most appropriate term pple would use would be: 'he's so gay'. but i cant be bothered to find out his orientation... lol. cos he's with his sworn sister! i mean a real girl... sisterhood!

this week i've been in-toxicated. at least i know i hate beer for sure. screwdriver tasted good, gulping down vodka+7up can give you brain freeze.

gotta pack my bag tml. got some great infantry friends sending us off tml. i finally found my shoes! 'dont phunk with my heart' is spinning in my head but chinablack seems to hate this song? 'we belong together' is my lullaby...

..:: 324. The One With Batman ::..

oh well, before i touch on the movie, had a kit inspection this morning back at camp. was pretty surprised my ex-buddy was late. mmm... he was still online at 4+ am so the obvious reason i could think of when he did not appear at the inspection was that he overslept. However, i was 'sala'. Apparently, he had lost his phone and spent time looking for it and making a police report. mmm... he told me that he got the driver to bring him ard the neighbourhood cos he realised he lost it when he was in the taxi. o_o

anyway interesting thing was while a group of us was at the bus stop, we found a handphone. Dunno why one of us passed to him and advised him to call back the owner and return the phone. Well, obviously that did not happen as according to him, the phone was spolit. er, spoilt? how come he still kept it with him? cant be bothered to pursue the matter...

Met calvin, alvin, melvin, samuel and jeremy at PS for the movie. half the time i was expecting batman to appear but it was about how the guy learnt to fight and acquire skills, customise his own 'costume', make his own vehicle. I always thought batman would be formed once a mutated bat bit the guy. lol. Comparatively, i still find mr and mrs smith nicer.

today also went for briefing for red cross current affairs competition. the venue looked like some exhibition at expo. mmm... tml i will be bz tabulating scores. lol.

ok thats all for now. still got a lot to say but gotta rest now. sun brunei trip :(

..:: 323. The One With Chinablack ::..

went chinablack with jeremy, samuel, melvin, jonathan, junasis, sizheng, daniel and steven . They have been a great crowd to be with cos they dare to dance. I broke my record, danced till they close. lol. Ladies' Nite and it was so bloody crowded! Platform was there but people were trying to dance there... arghz. they gotta try harder man. podium also, even the ladies up there couldnt strike a slightest sexy pose. The music was good only after like 2am. I swear next time i club i wont be going on wed and before 2am. Even though the girls there were not bad but the guys as usual would outnumber the girls. Cant dance yet stand in the way!

Oh btw, chanced upon my platoon mate's blog... lol. Reading this, i feel better. Can convince others that i'm not being bias, or picking on my ex-buddy...

"I learnt from this field camp tt u can really see a person's true colours n a team's bonding when times r trying...like my supposed "buddy"...whom i dun wish to condemn but hope he will learn from e field camp too..."

i was grinning when i read this :P

More stuff to bitch. stay tuned to my frequency guys.

..:: 322. The One With 23km Route March ::..

Crap. it wasnt 23km at all... definitely much more. started off at 2130 and ended at ard 0330. i was so freaking wet and down with abrasion that i could not sleep for the 2 hours of rest. however i was proud of my platoon, the only 1 singing at least at every 4km. Seriously, the wing has low wing integrity. Platoon 2 was the direct OCS enlistees while platoon 1 and 3 were the cross-overs. Initially, I was quite pissed having to be told over and over again to look up to pl 2 as examples. Yes, at the initial stages, we had to cos' they had spent 6 weeks more than we do in OCS. However, other stuff like leadership, fitness, i dont see we are anyway lower or worse than them. I have always associate them with being wayang. It means acting in front of instructors. Truly, during route marches, they never sing until when they are reaching the end point where all the instructors are there.

I must agree that Pl 2 cadets or rather some are really OCT. Only Can Talk. Some knew how to talk and make people move and do what they want. When there are no instructors like planning and setting up for Social Night, it was chaotic. Sometimes i wonder whether they know how to work with others. During my fieldcamp, we cross-overs were not taught how to do AOP and ops order, one pl 2 guy in our detail was showing that damn pissed off and frustrated face cos we were not able to speed the process up. In the end, he slept thru' out the preparation for the last mission cos the previous one he was appointed patrol leader and had been assessed.

Even up till the last day, there were still interesting events, like the 'number tag' incident, people not doing area cleaning... sometimes i really feel like going up to tell them to wake up. My ex-buddy had to take another guy's number tag when we had to return our stores and he lost his. How dumb can he be? Each of us has a specific number. Seriously, he got no integrity. He could just sit there and pretend nothing had happened when one of our section mates mentioned he could not find his number tag. I should have sounded off and embarrased him but i did not...

There will definitely people who got 1001 things to do and not to help out in area cleaning. Changing into book out attire when area cleaning was not completed. I wonder how they come to OCS?

Enough bitching. Now pictures wil tell you more. Sorry some pics my eyes were closed cos i was recovering from sore eyes and very sensitive to the flash...

My buddy, Sizheng and Me before the route march


Me and my Vice-Chair and the camera owner, Samuel


Me and Daryl, Sluts?


After 4km...


After 8km...


After 16km...


On the go for 20km...


After 20km...


After the senior bar presentation...


Platoon Pic when we reached wingline...


Me and my cool Section Instructor, LTA Vincent...


typical ocs bunk


parade square


brotherhood


everyday sleeping with my ipod shuffle


hearing double? I am john chen, he's jon chen. So you know how many heads will turn when you call john/jon chen. I was CPC and he was my CPS. Best buddies man.

..:: 321. The One With Brain-dead ::..

These two days only slept at 8am. By 2am i already felt like floating... yest wanted to go chinablack but changed to karaoke session thru'out the nite. As usual 5am supper/breakfast before we headed home.

Wed book out gonna club again. hopefully got more pple to go wif.

oh forgot to add... one of our officer proposed in front of everyone to his girl. gosh everyone was taken aback. but its kinda sweet... started of as a performance then got poems and stuff, suddenly he slowly walked over to her and kneel. *blessed*

stay tuned for more pix

..:: 320. The One With Foxtrot Social Nite ::..


Diana and Me



The Bytch Gang
From top,left: OCT Jeremy (PR Manager), OCT Samuel (Vice-Chair), OCT John (Chair), OCT Melvin (Honourary Advisor)



Part of Platoon One
NB: The roses form part of the crest of OCS. duh -_-



Part of Platoon One. Again.



Just the gals



Our Table. The Gentlemen and Their Dates

..:: 319. The One With Engineer ::..

Sun.Platoon live firing. As usual CAT 1, had to start later. Walking through the whole route for the attack, i almost died (of course i wasnt the only one). Somemore had to do it for four times! While we were doing our walk-the-ground, our wing comd said 'you all look very stone you know, run up and come down'. I looked at the steep slope, i felt an overwhelming sense of deja vu.

Mon. We got a nights off, only had to book in the next day at 1330. basically 7 of us went to cineleisure then PS just to get seats for Mr and Mrs Smith. The movie was great man, mrs smith was bitchy enough. lol. Even when we booked out, we are still using army terms like H-hour, crossing of danger area, link-up... -_-

Tue. We went for a 16km route march at 7pm. First time route march i got to march into NTU campus. It was an enjoyable march though we had like 25kg on us. We sang and sang and there was NTU buildings we could look at.

Wed. We learnt some close combat skills. The first ones were basic breakfalls. 'Oh my god' are the words to describe our feelings. We had to practically whack the ground hard to absorb the impact. During our stationary tries, we had to strike our forearms on the grass patch, like praying to god, kowtowing.

At night, i was elated when my name was called for an interview but most of us guessed its a combat engineer interview.

Thur. We learnt basic locks, kinda fun but my wrist was bad :( Then at night went for the 'interview' which turned out to be a 3-hr short tests. Do until my eyes also blurred.

Fri. Social night! Had a crappy dinner that was supposed to cost 45 bucks? Music also bad. Only the MC was good to sustain the show. My table rocked! All the bitches unite! Then went clubbing with jeremy, daniel, steven and zhi han. damn cool. went chinablack and i danced non stop from 3 till 5+. Somemore on the podium. high sia. Just came back like 7am? Gotta catch some sleep. later go chiong again! Heard my friends going again at nite -_-

More updates!

My wing got 8 cadets who took taxi up till medical centre which was illegal. When caught, one of them was stupid enough to say that he was from other wing. Wing comd was kinda pissed cos it involved integrity problem. Somemore that guy was going to be a doctor.

Yeah no longer in infantry. three more days to end of service term. No more SEOC which was bloody siong. but i kinda like siong stuff and stuff people have difficulties in doing cos my mental endurance is much higher than my physical one. No more platoon movement.

I am posted to combat engineers (80% sure). Whether which sub-vocation still a question, awaiting the results of the test...

..:: 318. The One With The Ultimate ::..

This whole week had been the toughest in my life.

Sun. booked in around 8+ to do my laundry and prepared for GPMG (general purpose machine gun) live firing. when we reached there, thunderstorm came. Nevertheless we still got the firing done. It was a nightmare for me at night. Got screwed by the instructor, somemore due to my buddy. In the day, i did not wait for the commander to give orders and i went to 'ready' my weapon. The instructor just warned me. In the night shoot, i waited for my buddy who was the commander to give orders. In the end he didnt give, hence i was shouted at for being blur. When my buddy was shooting, he had an IA in which the gun stopped firing. He assumed that his rounds had finished so he turned to the officer and told him he had finished shooting. I was his assistant and i saw that there were still rounds left so when i wanted to tell my buddy, the officer yelled at me again. It happened so fast and i was just stunned. my buddy is really a 1 x blur cock. more amusing stories about him...

Mon.Tue.had some chemical defence lessons. wore the suit and mask and it was freaking hot and stuffy. went into the smoke chamber... wah the thing they used in tear gas really powerful. all came out tearing... had to take out mask and answer questions... by the third question, i was already choking...

We also welcomed a few SISPEC crossovers. I took this chance to change bunk. Now i got a new buddy. However he was already a sergeant cos he was from ASLC (advanced section leader course, while the rest were from BSLC (basic ...). It was nice to hear from his experience, especially overseas training. Glad that my torment with my ex buddy was finally over! I got to sleep without lights on and no freaking alarm clock ringing at 5am when we are supposed to wake up at 0530. Everyday i had to switch off my ex buddy's alarm clock and in the end he woke up after me. damn pissed.

Wed.Start of my 7-day fieldcamp. My platoon started with Ex Spade.4 exercises to be completed within the 7 days. Ex Spade, Ex Zebra, Ex Skylark, Ex Nightbird. We started digging our 'coffin hole' at 7pm using a entrenching tool about the size slightly larger than a hammer. I finished mine like 9. Had to dig a fire trench up to chest level in buddy level. Started at 11pm and ended at 7am. In the morning when we had to assemble, we were made to run up and down the knoll for 4 times which was 85m and super steep. With all the load on us, my legs almost gave way by the 2nd day.

After digging our own trench, we had to dig alternate trenches for reinforcement troops. We had to dig command post big enough to put a table and at least 1.8m deep (considering the average height)

It was plain digging for 3 days. The other platoon started with Ex Zebra so they learnt about all the platoon attack formations. They 'attacked' us on the 3rd day. It was more fun and logical for them to combine the two camps in order for us to experience the elements of defence and offence. Our wing is the only one who combine both camps together. If not Ex Spade would be just digging and then at the 4th day, covering up.

Amidst all the digging, you can see the true colurs of your platoon mates. Some chose to be lazy, sleep and not dig. Even if they dig, they dun really put in effort. The challenge was to fight against fatigue and z monster. Endure all the sweat and mosquito bites.

Sat. We learnt about breeching... breaking into enemy's territory by overcoming their obstacles. My ex buddy had to be so blur and run to wrong postions twice! Everyone couldnt stop laughing. Ya we were mean... but it wasnt that hard to run into your position.

After the camp, everyone was damn shack. the bytch gang chilled at some1's hse and concuss the whole nite. Next morning was kbox and lunch. then went down to my sec school for red cross camp. kinda disappointed when i got there. saw the standards dropped so much. Had to step in and immediately i could see them improving. i guess the juniors really need guidance... Saw all my juniors who i had trained, graduated and came back to help. thats why i chose to come back and help cos its so fulfilling to see the cadets you have trained coming back to help with no obligations.

Time to plan what to do. staying at home not sleeping is sinful. still got to write 3 pages of reflections. darn.

..:: 317. The One With Slack Week ::..

oh, this week has been super slack. book in on tue night and got a night off on wed. thur was school happy hour. fri dragonboat at kallang for wing cohesion day.

wed. reported sick on wed morning. throat infection with fever bout. then booked out for NIE admission tea session. Book in back to know that we will get to book out in the evening...

watched monster-in-laws. expected the movie to turn out crappy cos there's j lo. but in the end, it was worth 8 bucks! Damn funny and entertaining...

thur. senior wing organised a happy hour for the us. lots of tiger beer as usual. my platoon had someone drunk and puked at wing common area... there was pole dance but regret not dancing it cos the one representing my wing sucked! lol.

fri. dragonboat damn fun but shack sia. hopefully my platoon got our rightful night off for coming in first.

thur afternoon received a call from NTU that i got a place in Nanyang Business School!!! haha. damn happy. but now i dunno which option to take. haiz. i am interested in both. teaching is good. firstly, tuition fees fully paid by MOE, you draw a salary while studying and u'll get a stable civil service job once you graduate. Business is good in a way it's more diverse, a better degree to get, 3 yrs somemore. but i dunno what i wanna be if i take business. mmm...

booking in on sun morning for machine gun live firing... and scary 7-day fieldcamp starting on wed. but i got a clubbing 'appointment' after my camp.

..:: 316. The One With Good News ::..

hey... i got a place in NIE! so happy. got home to treat my mum her belated mother's day dinner and i received the letter on my coffee table. haha no need to re take my As liao...

then book in and next thing i knew was we had to change to our smart 4. deep inside i was anticipating a parade for change of appointment. in the end i was right! more admin time for me! yeah.

just came to know that the person i kinda dislike didnt get into medicine though he got like close to perfect score. mmm... perhaps he should start changing his attitude and be nice to people and stop telling people ard him that their english sucked. lol, i was just one of the 'people'.

oh, felt really glad that i've made a few very close frenz. someone i could relate to whenever i have problems... mmm... haha. *waves hi* to samuel, melvin and jeremy (if u guys are reading)

today was a day of impact. fired an armbrust weapon and a grenade from a grenade launcher. mmm... cant wait to book out on wed for my tea reception at NIE! but sems like my PC advises me not to go cos i would be missing out on an important lesson. sian. keep my fingers cross...

..:: 315. The One With Shagness ::..

mmm... it has been a long time since i blogged. last few week book out could be considered as a night off cos its only 4 hrs. In the end, i stayed behind and went out for dinner.

Guess the most happening thing was after sun live firing. That sunday was kinda screwed up. perhaps everyone did not behave like a cadet, morale low cos our sunday's burnt, in the end we provoked our wing comd who had to shout at us... still cant forget some stuff he shouted...

'all of you shut up. Since the wing appointment holders not doing anything, i shall take charge now. you all just follow my instructions from now, like a private...'

we finally got back to wing line and slept around 2+ am. We had to wake up at 5am next day for comd parade. however, it rained... haiz, i woke up around 4+ to iron my uniform... the last few days seriously no time to even iron my uniform. got to pack fieldpack, settle admin.

straight after the wet weather prog for parade, we had to set off for patrol fieldcamp at tekong. zzz monsters attacked almost everyone. my first day of the camp was a nightmare for me. i was the patrol leader for the first mission which started at 8pm. had to plan the mission and come out with AOP (approval of plan) then once agreed by the instructor, i had to prepare ops (operation) order to my members. It was a stressful process. firstly, sispec crossovers were not taught how to do AOP or a proper ops order. secondly, we got only 30 mins for each. lastly, presenting the AOP was difficult cos i dun even know whether what i did was correct or not. Worse, our 2IC sat in for my AOP and ops order. *stress*

then came navigation and making my way in the dark. i had to navigate and look out for 'enemies' and danger areas. In short, it was a nightmare.

when we ended our mission around 1 am, we had to prepare for our second misson at 2am. Everyone was deprived of sleep... this carried on for 3 freaking days.

well, this book out was fun, managed to catch up with some friends. went to karaoke and shopping with my best friend. met up with my ocs friends (haha thx melvin and sam for visiting my site) for sushi buffet and sing again. haiz sentosa trip was a flop, every1 was so tired... all 'fly my aeroplane'...

last night went to club. great music, i am totally shagged.

till then... yawnz...

..:: 314. The One With Nights Off ::..

haiz, yesterday had to book in like 730pm to do the ball-lighting of the weapon. In the end, instructors cocked up. nothing was done and i had to rush and make preparation... slept like 11+ and woke up at 4+.

pretty cool to take an air-con bus for outfield training. but alas, it rained for the whole morning. in the end, live firing cancelled so we got our nights off... gotta book back in like now... haiz

hee... had a great chat with my parents, glad that they are doing well. okayz, pay day tml! happy mothers' day !

..:: 313. The One With A Fun Week ::..

well, today is saturday, one of the rare occasions i get to book out on friday. Well, seriously ever since i am in the army, there is nothing much happening in my civilian life. Everytime i get to book out, its definitely less than 24 hrs. I still need to sleep, wash my stuff, stock up what i need, lastly if got time then catch a movie or what.

I need to keep a journal for my days in ocs too, hence by doing it online, i do not need to do a double entry onto a book. Isnt it good sometimes to hear something that is new? rather than blogging about my trip to town, movie reviews... these things everyone having civilian life can do. Secondly, i also do not have much contact with my friends, so many things to do in such a short time. Moreover, i now need more time to travel to SAFTI MI. Thirdly, isnt my blog supposed to be about my daily activities, thoughts, reflections rather than blogging to please people? or to blog certain stuff to interest people? Think about it.

Nevertheless, when i look at the schedule, i was kinda disheartened. Physical training every evening after combat trainings. However, thanks to the rain, a few had been cut down. Interesting stuff would be the initiation ceremony. We had a turn-out on tue morning at 430am, meaning they will wake us up suddenly by shouting, asking us to fall in in a particular attire in 3 mins. rationale behind it was crap but still we had to do it. Then we went for a run (arghz), ran up a SAFTI tower which has 265 steps that signify 265 days in OCS. Magnificant view at the top. Next we had to take a cool dip, went to do a confidence jump at 5m platform at the swimming pool. Luckily the rest of the day was signal test, lots of waiting time so we found chance to sleep.

Must comment on the food at SAFTI, damn nice. Even the soup got lots of varieties. tou suan, bo bo cha cha, white fungus with papaya, etc.

Just had a IPPT trial test, yeah got a gold... damn happy, still cant believe i manage a 10 chin-ups and a < 9:45 min for my 2.4km after a shack day. if i get a gold in the real test, i can get 200 bucks!

fri morning was the real initiation ceremony where i got to step into this solemn place, ceremonial hall. The $40k and $60k sword and torch were a sight to behold.

After breakfast, we went for a paintball practice. It was damn fun!!! We get to shoot at each other, really train us to take cover properly. Once you get hit, you not only feel the pain but also you will have a coloured stain. I shot a guy at his neck region while he was loading his weapon. *ouch. Many of us got bruises after the practice but still it was fun. especially headshots!

gotta book in sat evening at 5! cos sun got live firing and we can only sleep like after 3am. die!

mmm... lets keep a minute of silence for our late former People's President, Dr Wee Kim Wee...

-end of blog-

P.S: I need to get the officer creed into my head badly. whole platoon been screwed for not being able to recite fully...

I am an officer cadet of OCS
To inspire us onwards as officers to be
I now state with reverance and respect
The officers creed:

I am an officer of the Singapore Armed Forces
My duty is to lead, to excel and to overcome
I lead my man by example
I answer for their training, morale and discipline
I must excel in everything i do
I serve with pride, honour and integrity
I will overcome adversity with courage fortitude and determination
I dedicate my life! to Singapore!

mmm... hopefully i memorised correctly...

..:: 312. The One With Survey ::..

Your Birthdate: February 20

Your birth on the 20th day of the month adds a degree of emotion, sensitivity, and intuition to your reading. The 2 energy provided here is very social, allowing you to make friends easily and quickly. Yet you are apt to have a rather nervous air in the company of a large group. You have a warmhearted nature and emotional understanding that constantly seeks affection. You are very prone to become depressed and moody, as emotions can turn inward and cause anxiety and mental turmoil. It can be hard for you to bounce back to reality when depression sets in. When things are going well, you can go just as far the other way and become extremely affectionate.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

..:: 311. The One With My Dream Came True ::..

290405, Friday

I decided to meet up with my best friend for a karaoke session... been a long time since i last hear her sing. While waiting for the bus, i realised i got a missed call. When it was an unknown number, my heart skipped a beat. Was it the COS calling me that i'm going to cross over?

When i called back, i was super excited... Then i heard a familiar voice asking for my name.

Sgt Ahmad: You are to report to the SFT by 1845...

the rest of the conversation was a blur. Nothing else could contain my excitement. I finally can have training on mainland.

So happy that i crazily msg lots of people... Glad that all of them sent me their wishes. Thank you guys...

Shannen: Hey congrats! Haha.. You wanted to get in very much rite.. :-) haha must come out celebrate!

Weiming: Good. Congrats! I'm nowhere in NS =D

Melvin: Wa...congrats sir... haha so early receive call liao ah. all the best.

Wei Hao: Sob... u'll be gewtting like 800 a mth, double my pay. u better treat me to dinner next time!

Yunfei: haha congrats! i always knew you had it in you man. wanna club on sunday?

raphael: hjey john... that's great! congrats! look forward to u becoming an officer. can be my sir. haha. all the best!

Also must thank andy sir and weishan for their msges. hee...

i was pretty shocked when i received my commando PC's (2WO Chew Kim Leng) msg:

Congratulation guys for being selected 4 OCS! Work HARD as it's jus e STARTING of another learning stage... DO LEAD BY EXAMPLE and display a very POSITIVE attitude and approach 2 all tasks assigned and put in practice e 12 attributes of a leader- ISPASSFORCDF.It's all UP in yr MIND 2 MAKE IT HAPPEN. May all my eagles SOARED 2 GREATEST heights. Meantime, take care and u r WELCOME 2 visit our eagle 1 nest anytime. Yr CDO PC - e RED PATCH. Hooah!

went back to tekong on fri night to pack my stuff... my company of 153, only 17 got to cross over. Actually the cross-over was not based on performance in SISPEC, rather the list was already decided based on BMT. The 100 SISPEC cross overs were actually part of the trial batch... meaning they are testing the system whereby everyone going to OCS has to go through SISPEC.

However, looking back my experience in SISPEC had been an enjoyable one. Apart from negative thoughts, i had a very gd PC that inspired and impressed me the most... a section commander who never fails to make us laugh and make trainings (aka chiong sua) enjoyable.

Sat morning we had our last meal in SISPEC then we were brought all the way to SAFTI Military Institute (homeland of the OCS). My first impression of the place was that it looked like a chalet resort. The design of the buildings... one grateful thing was that i see less rovers, less tonners, more cars! From the parade square i could see HDB flats! i missed them a lot. At tekong i could only see a row of lights and the airport runway.

The dining hall (much better name than cookhouse) was kinda jap-style. Very spacious. No need to squeeze like in BMT or SISPEC. The food so much better even though its from SFI? Really pleasing to the eyes, the whole place. Got nice garden, mini water fall, koi pond, paintings, dim lights, the settings exactly like spa resort.

We got lots of cool gadgets like a business bag look-alike with lots of writing materials. Collar pin which we had to wear when we book out. The book out attire was pretty cool. white long sleeve shirt, black pants, black socks and leather shoes and belt. you can imagine how we look. impressive eh.

but the thing i like most was the rank. pretty cool two white stripes for now. Dunno whether am i lucky or what, i got chosen to be the CPC (cadet platoon commander) on the first day and i have to hold the rank (2 white bars plus a ribbon) for like 2 weeks! ... i knew the sir gonna call my name (fuck the instinct) and i was right.

Another thing nice about OCS is every instructor tries to live up to the symbol of a gentleman. I havent heard vulgarities yet unlike in SISPEC. In OCS, they also rarely pump people, they just give extras (guard duties or COS duties). Had a hard time adjusting to see so many commissioned officers. Now my PC is a LTA (2 bars) and my OC is a major *gulps*. Have to salute every now and then.

Booking out can be a chore since each wing will decide when they book out. If the programme drags, then you know what happen. Last time have to catch fast craft so they will release us no matter what. Now just have to march super far to the main entrance, by then all our shirts soaking wet and transparent.

My bunk kinda nice. got computer too. heh. each platoon got a mini kitchen and the toilet and shower room damn big. no need to queue but area cleaning sure die. the shirts and shorts they issued were nice too... actually i'm happy with everything about OCS now. The pay! The environment! The food! the cadet mess!



Foxtrot Wing.

..:: 310. The One With End of Term 1 ::..

yeah term 1 ended! had quite severe rope burn during rope obstacles. can even see flesh... yucks... still hurts after 3 days liao.

oh forgot to add that last week i did my SOC test and i got 8:15! haha so happy... the wall was higher, had to reach higher for the rope and higher swinging bridge, higher ramp, but still did not deter me frm slicing off 1:15 off my previous timing in BMT.

Echo coy had a happy hour on wed night where we had bbq and beer! my friend drank until he puked... cos we were playing 5:10:15:20 finger guessing game. the instructor was so gd that we trainees had to have a tag team. from tiger to stout to red wine... strangely no one had hangover the next day. perhaps only liquor can haf that effect.

thur was basically slack time. only thing to do was the survey at 3pm. then book out at 630pm. watched full metal jacket in the lecture room while waiting... oh ya, think i'm going to get band of brothers... really nice when i first saw it play during happy hour.

oh went to red cross hq wanting to pay a surprise visit but no one was there... angeline also took off till tue. only saw annie, the scary receptionist who was in gd mood today. lol.

my next pay i'm going to buy a camera! been missing out fun memories...

till next time...

..:: 309. The One With 5th Week in SISPEC ::..

This week had been a torment to my face. It's the camo-on week. Had to apply camo cream for almost the whole week. The week started with 2 days of outfield training, followed by a 4-day fieldcamp. During the camp, we had Ex Catwalk, Nightowl and Summex, all the mission exercises. Shan't go into details cos its kinda mundane and boring...

Good thing is that i got to book out on Friday for NIE interview. The expected questions like 'What would be your first choice? Business or Teaching?' Was kinda embarrased when they asked me to explain my maths result.

Next week only 4 days. having lectures and doing outdoor obstacles and repelling stuff... cool. hopefully they will call me, actually three parties. NTU business, NIE and the company orderly sergeant (for crossing over to OCS). mmm... Sat going clubbing, Mon going to sing!

..::308. The One With 3rd & 4th Week In SISPEC ::..

Basically the most fun thing was the navigation exercise. Ex Gypsy 1 was with the section and instructor. Couldnt find the legendary checkpoint IRIS and we were 'holland' (ho-lan) for quite some time. Gypsy 2 without instructor, still we came back like the last few, no time to plan for the navigation data sheet for the night one. Ex Wanderer was the actual test where details in four went to hunt for 4 day check points and 2 night check points. We managed to find IRIS this time and still completed the day one by 3.30pm which was a big feat. For the night one, we came back by 9pm, a challenge set by the warrant officers.

sian also dun feel like writing army stuff le. pretty boring. Just that week by week, the training gets more draining, by sat, we are all tired out.

this week sat, i got to book out for NTU interview. was kinda happy and wanted to arrange to get my off-pass from my platoon sergeant. In the end, when we came back from section training on fri, i was called to do guard duty. At first i thought i had to do because i would not be doing SOC the next day unlike the rest of the platoon. Only when i came back the next morning, my friend told me my PC was angry with the sergeants as they needed to rush the guard duty list so they just anyhow pick one name and sent to HQ. How lucky i am right? but then i was kinda repaid when i was told that i do not need to book in after my interview.

i was supposed to take 8am fast craft. in the end the tonner fetching us to theferry terminal was late, so i could only take the 9am one. I was almost late for the interview. Luckily the one before me was still inside the room. I took a cab down and it was 18 bucks! that pretty confirm that if i get into NTU, i would stay in hostel.

awaiting 29 apr...

..:: 307. The One With 2nd Week In SISPEC ::..

haiz - is the word to sum up this entire long week. so much so for 'working' a 5.5 day week. i really need to muster some motivation before i suffer from depression.

couldnt sleep for the first two days as i havent settle my university admission stuff... but thanks to a few people, they set my mind at ease... Andy sir, Vincent sir, Shannen, Jorin and my sis!

Got to book in on monday morning as i had a water course at changi naval base that morning. It was not a good thing to book in on monday at all. firstly, sun i went for a volleyball game and got hit right in my face. Slept like around 1am and had to wake up like 5am. The sleep was good but not enough.

Well at least there was some consolation this week as we spent like three days (tue-thur) having lectures. tue we had an NE discussion forum on whether spore can be defended. yawns... i was caught by the officer for dozing off... luckily he was in a gd mood. well almost half the cohort was sleeping, i was at the 2nd row so suay is the word.

wed, we had an early lights off at 8PM!!! Never slept so early before in my entire 4 months. I had like 9 hrs of sleep and super on-form for lectures and even SOC... arghz. training for SOC was such a waste of time. they could have given us one test and those who fail should go for training. Having to go through four sessions of SOC and a trial test is simply wasting 'soldier time'. Ya, its for combat fitness but the training for SOC is not even scheduled properly... we had 2 consective sessions while poor foxtrot had four trainings in a week!

In army... had to do things for the sake of doing... so thats why they often scold us for follwing the motion only. well what to do... once things become routine for me, i will feel 'sian'. So much for my instructors for saying 'do it once, do it good'.

We almost got to play 'musical chair'. It is a term for switching of bunks. Our commando PC made us pack every stuff we had and wanted to switch our bunks as we didnt do our area cleaning properly... i was eager to change bunk so i can get another cupboard which has an intact lock. my current one was spoilt so i could not lock my valuables. very frustrating... In the end, he just told us to put back our stuff...

the stand-by bed arrangement was even more 'do for the sake of doing'. We had to lay a soap box, toothbrush, toothpaste, shaver (all SAF issued items) when in fact none of us used them. I mean if we were to just make sure our stuff are neatly arranged, that would be the standard for stand-by bed. Not like now, where we had to put admin, shorts, white socks on the left, green socks on the right. Hang only three sets of clothes, civilian, then long 4, then smart 4. thats so stupid... Well, thats BMT Sch 1 way of stand-by bed. luckily mohawk was not like that.

next definitely have to talk about my section... my friend said i was stupid enough to be such a nice guy and help my section get stuff... which is true to a certain extent. I had a vad experience the last time so i would think twice next time. this time i asked one of my section to help me get the stuff... i was pretty anxious at this moment cos he didnt confirm whether he will be buying for me. If not i have to get it myself or find someone. I called and called but no one picked up the phone. ARGHZ.

my buddy is a garang (very-on) sikh, at least not a turban kind. i really dunno whether to appreciate him or to hate him. certain things he say, never goes through his mind. he could be mocking at his own section mate who was short and could not get through the low wall in SOC. but then again, it may be his way of motivating that guy. maybe i am still being racist or wat cos i came from an all-chinese bunk in my BMT. Now the tension in the section is quite intense. there are people trying to impress so they can go to OCS by 6th week, some haven come out from their comfort zone. It's very hard to sense sincerity in the conversations now. What's more, one of my section mate got OOC (out of course) so easily... he didnt want to stay in sispec so he brought up his medical history... so he would be waiting for his new 8-5 posting most probably... Now that's depressing for me. So many times, i wanted to give up, not because it's tough, but because there's nothing for me to look forward to in SISPEC. i will excel if there's something that i am aiming for. but now, there's none. I'm just fighting hard to keep myself going and telling myself, time will pass quickly. That's not the way i want. I want to enjoy training...

its the first time that i actually cant stand a person because of his vulgarities. our CSM (coy sergeant major) is one aging ah beng you can find in spore. he dont address people by their names, if he's unhappy, u will be known as 'ccb' (not difficult to decipher that, i guess). That word has been so common that i can actually feel that there is such a person in the company. he rarely uses english as i feel that his cultural roots must be super deep and strong. dialect (hokkien) all day long. when he uses his phone, its always hokkien that i hear. F*** has lost its meaning to me... cos he loves to f*** everyone. he could just walk up to you and point his middle finger at your face and say 'FU' for the simplest reason. he even does it to the toilet bowls during inspection. maybe not the pointing part.
i wonder whether he believes in any religion... he loves to say 'g**-damn f***ing' at least once a day. i also feel that he may have some kind of fetish for the male organ... cos he kept using 'simi LJ', of course there are many kinds but i know for sure he's jealous of us as he maybe having problems keeping up. lol. whats worse, he thinks he's funny. he loves to make fun of ang-mo and our coy has two unfortunately. he also confessed he has a fetish for braces... maybe not guys in braces... now that's one weird man.

well kinda surprised when my buddy now in OCS told me he felt like crying... well i guess training to be a commander ain't easy. i know its hard for me cos i am a very emotional person and many times, my emotions will take control of me, that's why i am trying to keep myself to think positively.

Well, all is not lost.i should make a list to remind myself to stay happy...

1. Learning new weapons is interesting and so far i have done pretty well for the tests.

2. my section commander is super cool and affable, 2 weeks of miserable section movement should be fun now.

3. i'm on my 3rd week now... awaiting for 6th week.

4. Look forward to Labour day and Vesak day... long weekends.

5. Make more friends. Maybe get to know one person each day.

haha cant believe i'm doing this but it kinda helped me... a form of therapy?

today sunday, had to send my clothes for laundry service. so waited and began to observe people... couples with children kinda interesting... if they got one child, the child would most probably walking beside his/her dad while the mum will walk behind them (quite a big gap). 2 kids. one with each parent. son with mum, daughter with dad. Those without children would walk side by side. holding of hands would be for either very young couples or very old couples.

oh well, that's just some minority stuff i see, may not actually make sense. just feeling the sunday blues. a few hours more have to book in le. next 2 weeks, i wil be booking out on sunday morning and booking in on sunday night. hows that sound?


Confucianism:

"Tse-kung asked, 'Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?' Confucius replied, 'It is the word 'shu' -- reciprocity. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.'" Doctrine of the Mean 13.3

..:: 306. The One With NTU Admission ::..

Hey guys, if you are reading this, i hope you can do me a small favour by filling up this appraisal for my university admission.

http://www.ntu.edu.sg/oad2/pdfs/appraisal_cata.pdf

Important details:

Application number: A00008098
Name of applicant: Chen Xing Tian John
NRIC: S8604887F
Contact Number: 97629132
Applying for: discretionary criteria only

As i will be in camp so i couldnt post all your appraisals, i feel bad having u guys posting the appraisals...

thanks a lot. owe u guys a treat.

..:: 305. The One With 1st Week in SISPEC ::..

21 March, i reported to pasir ris interchange on a sunny monday morning, waiting for the similar SMRT bus that would bring me to the dreaded ferry terminal. The night before, i went to ask my senior to find out more about SISPEC to put my mind at ease.

In the fast craft, i was praying fervently that i wont get into Echo or Foxtrot, two of the most siong company in SISPEC. The more relax ones are bravo, delta (super welfare!) and golf (got female officer).

When we reached the stadium, we were told to search for our names on the list and our corresponding company... one of my unpopular platoon mates got into bravo and the moment i saw him clenching his fist and mouthing 'yes!', i knew he was not in E or F coy. i scanned my name... deep inside i thot, this yr has been quite screwed up for me, got into siong Mohawk coy, then horrible detail for sitest and now in SISPEC, what could be worse?

I saw 'E' beside my name, i almost fainted.

Before we left, we were reminded by the instructors,
'those who got E or F, you are ensured of really fresh air and you will be very fit after BSLC (basic section leader course)...'

No prize for guessing what is installed for us.

Echo has been renowned for their top discipline level and for the recent years, they have been producing the school best student. We got there within the first hour, we got screwed already, hearing more vulgarities than in BMT.

The first person that impressed me and got my attention was my platoon commander (PC) who is a 2WO. He didnt have his beret with him so i thought he maybe from infantry. Hell no, until i saw him with his maroon beret, i was pleasantly surprised. A commando. Before the training started, everyone has laid their expectations and rules. from section commanders to platoon sergeant to PC to CSM and even Officer Commanding (OC)who was another commando too...

talk about our CSM coy sergeant major, i think he can rap using vulgarities. one sentence, the vulgarities more than the noun, verb or even article.

make everyone cut the same hairstyle called 3 by 1 which is actually a patch of hair on top of the head, the rest shave. we look exactly like him, cock face.

One good thing was that we do not need to sing while we march. yes we still have to march just like recruits in BMTC, no difference.

Everything was such a rush. We learnt a new weapon (cannot be disclosed) in the morning and had a theory and practical test in the afternoon. The next day, another weapon. Today we just sat for an impromptu test, though open book, we had to search through 200+ pages to get answers.

My idiotic friend had to msg me at night that he was at home slacking, nothing to do. he got a 8-5 vocation. Now, he is teasing me about going SISPEC to suffer when he actually hope to be a commander but now a man.

we had peer appraisal by the 3rd day! how crazy is that? We havent got to know our section mates well enough...

Awaiting for 6th week...

..:: 304. The One With A No-Go ::..

oh well, kinda expected my sentosa trip is cancelled. Sian.

..:: 303. The One With My fucked-up MSN ::..

kena some kind of virus, so if u guys receive some weird files from me, sorry about that. i cant control it, the window just keeps popping up and send viruses to every contact of mine. but strangely if i delete my history folder, it doesnt happen...

anyway just heard from my senior, camo cream will be my buddy... camo all day long.

haiz. to think i'm already fugly... need to equip myself with facial stuff.BAH!

..:: 302. The One With Music To Suit Your Mood ::..

If you are heartbroken from a relationship, brace up to:
Since You've Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson

If you met your ex and still have feelings for that person, listen to:
Truth Is by Fantasia Barrino

If two people fall in love with the same person, hear this out:
Yuan Dian by Stephanie Sun and Tanya Chua

If you want more attention from your other half, play this:
Ta Hai Shi Bu Dong by S.H.E

If you dont feel like going home, go with:
Nobody's Home by Avril Lavigne

If you are feeling high, go crazy with:
Do Somethin' by Britney Spears

If you are feeling lame, chant this:
Sweat (A la la la la long) by Inner Circle

If you are angry at someone who did something to you, hum to:
Karma by Alicia Keys

If you are feeling what i am feeling, drown yourself in:
Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day

..:: 301. The One With Posting ::..

here goes...

Comd SAF BMTC congratulates you for your successful completion of the BMT.

Your Posting Order is listed below:

1. You are posted to SISPEC.
2. Your vocation is INFANTRY LEADER.
3. Your are to report to: Pasir Ris Bus Interchange.
Reporting Date/Time: 21/03/2005 at 0830 hrs.
Person to report to: Chief Clerk
Contact Number: 65467067
You are required to report in smart no.4 uniform (PES E recruits to be in No 3 uniform), except for those assigned to Police Force.
4. Special Instruction: Bring complete SAF issued items. Take SMRT Bus at Pasir Ris at 0830, Fast Craft at SFT at 0845


Oh well, Infantry leader sounds nice... at least i think a lot of pple going SISPEC so wont be that sian. i hope i get a really fun platoon and buddy. At least next time i can book-in in civilian attire. haiz, 2005 is definitely not my year. Firstly results, then this. mmm... i need to be more at peace with myself.

hopefully sentosa tml with my platoon mates better be an enjoyable one...

..:: 300. The One With Random Thots ::..

tried logging in miw website for my posting but failed several times... damn fed up tried for like 2 hrs liao. kept receiving my friends' smses, quite a lot got into MAN and interesting vocations like naval combat system operator, technician, military police, office hrs job. thinking back, ocs seems far for me, wasnt garang enuff. worse, i got chance to perform after peer appraisal. aiya, shld stop grumbling and accept the fact i going back to tekong for a wonderful vocation called SISPEC. i still feel its low class, yucks. back to that later...

watched mtv: ask yesterday and found that alicia keys is actually a very nice person. always thought she is the 'dao' kind like faye wong. Instead she gave her most honest, personal and detailed answers to her fans' questions unlike avril lavigne who gave like a less-than-10-word answer to every question.

Health Bytes: eat more curry guys! the curcumin in tumeric can prevent Alzheimer's Disease. curcumin is the part of tumeric (a spice) its distinct yellow colour.

TV Bytes: Have you watch the recent Amazing Race? Its the 7th season and this promises to be the best season. Why? Survivor couple Rob and Amber is in the house. They have (actually is just Rob) so many tatics under their sleeves. Some may be so scheming that you wanna shout fuck u but yet you'll still love em' for their smart moves.

1. They always do research. Instead of taking the earliest bus available, they went to search for an express bus which leaves later but arrives earlier due to lesser stops.

2. They bribed the security officer not to reveal the information to other teams.

3. When they are at the front part of the bus, they paid the driver to open only the front door of the bus. This is crucial for catching a cab.

4. They get even with teams that found fault wif them. They stole a taxi from one of the team when they were in the hotel asking for directions.

5. When Rob cant finish eating 4 pounds of cow parts and had to suffer a 4hr handicap, he was smart enough to persuade other teams that they couldnt do it so in the end they too gave up and had to wait for 4 hrs. By that time, he was assured that he wont be eliminated. [best trick ever]

6. more to come...

back to my posting... still couldnt log in and my friend helped me check and told me its SISPEC... mmm... totally agree with

Suffer
In
Silence
Plus
Extra
Confinement

5 reasons why i should hate going SISPEC:

1. Angry with my performance
2. will be getting same rank as my commander who obviously cant give clear instructions
3. will be getting lower rank as my buddy who is 'louder' than me. does more chin ups. thats it. [ok, i sound like a sore loser]
4. vocation as a MAN is definitely more interesting
5. going back TEKONG... arghz!!!

5 reasons why i should like going SISPEC:

1. Its still a command school
2. Like my commander said, i still may cross over to OCS after 10 weeks
3. I cant think of any
4. I really cant think of any
5. I give up

now i feel like playing vball and whacking the ball... any1?

..:: 299. The One With Lion's Trail ::..

oh man. the trail ard changi was so... boring and waste of time. the tour guide was just repeating whatever i had learnt about japanese occupation...

2 take-aways from the trip:
Changi Village food is damn gd... nasi lemak, mutton soup, ipoh hor fun...
Selarang Camp... i got story to tell to my cadets next time i teach RCK...

oh, i got tempted to join the prisons career... firstly, its part of civil service. secondly, i get to work with people which is my type of work. thirdly, its a fulfilling career... mmm... thats provided i cant be a teacher first.

ok off to watch the repeat telecast of amazing race le...
tml busy day man. morning ktv, afternoon gym, night vball...
drink more water guys! i just got throat infection... sobs...

..:: 298. The One With Home Alone ::..

well, i was forced to stay at home now... so my chiong-ing days are almost over.

anyway, sat went to bendemeer sec for some red cross workshops, apparently the volunteers there were more than enough. Me being there only could eye-power even though i tried to help whenever i could. oh btw the new batch of instructors was pretty disciplined. i was shocked when they greeted me sir. i was just one rank higher only :(

then went for my platoon bbq at my platoon sergeant's condo. Saw a few of my platoon mates drove to the condo, i was so jealous... at the same time envied their cars. All the instructors came and prepared some food, there were liquor and lots of fruits courtesy of our health-conscious sgt peter. we had fun calling them juz by their names though, cos no confinement for calling that:]

then my section mates played dare-or-dare. had to pinch my officer and my PS's butt! kinda childish la but seeing the instructors smiling, i bet they must have enjoyed it. lol.

Sentosa was more packed than any other sundays cos today they had some 'family day' activities. Wanted to go ntu but no one wanted to accompany me...

oh was surfing ard and saw photographs of my sk red cross cadets. I must say they have grown up so much... cant wait to go back one day to see them. from being blur cadets to what they are now, i'm so proud of them. even though they dont have much guidance, they still remained united.

..:: 297. The One With Piazza ::..

mmm... realised quite a lot of people so must be careful of what i bitch...

oh must thank shannen, ee ling and angeline for giving me a shirt for my birthday

as usual, bitch a lot during dinner but today got special guest! OMG. i was dumbfounded... shannen has found her match! at some point i was already -_- but it was interesting to see people argue.

My appetite is back!

i'm back to my normal life le... red cross on sat and bbq at night.
mmm... i think my parents gonna throw my bed out. soon.

..:: 296. The One With POP ::..

yeah finally POP... now for the flashback...

dreaded going back to camp cos everyone will be talking about nothing except results. my bunk only 3 guys didnt get As but the more i hear from other platoons the lesser the chance i am going into university. well heck. ok ya, one of my infamous bunk mate got A1 for his GP. He was commenting how bad my english was when reading my autobiography. Anyway i meant it to be a casual writing just like in blog or msn. So if any of you guys reading my blog now, please beware.

the final SOC evaluation was on monday and i thought i would fail my low rope obstacle. but alas, i passed it with a pretty good timing of 9:31. fastest in my section and second fastest in my platoon. surprisingly i did better than my other 2 section mates who were, wah, damn fit. My buddy said i could do better because i can run and he's not good in running. Conclusion: Talk so much in the end i still win him in SOC no matter what.

Then came the most dreaded event: 24km route march. We started at 1500 and ended at 2356. Had to wear my parade boots which were not seasoned cos i left my other boots at home. Same old abrasions at the thighs but still i cant believe i had done it.

Packing to go home was hard. I didnt bring any stuff home during the last book out so i got lots to carry. threw away a lot of stuff though :(

9th March. My mum put on my jockey cap for me and some of my army friends drooled at my sis which i thought they might be blind. :P

Felt elated that i do not need to go back to tekong for any re-test. whole company only about 30 do not need to come back cos many have to re-do their SOC.

was pretty angry the day before POP... had a debrief session with my section commander. He was evaluating each of us in the section and he said i probably go SISPEC!!! arghz. whats worse, 'you still can have the chance to go OCS even if you get posted to SISPEC'. though i find it hard to accept but if i cant make it to OCS, i guess it must be my peer appraisal. The peer appraisal was done before i was made the platoon IC so didnt have much chance to perform. somemore i not the kind who wayang so not many took notice. Well, but my platoon sergeant said i got the chance to go OCS so i still keep my fingers crossed. My buddy, bloody hell, while queuing for dinner, was telling me 'aiya, dun be so mad. I'll may see you here when u come back as a specialist'. wah i was fuming, deep inside i was thinking, 'you think you confirm can go OCS big deal ar? ' Actually leadership skills, i dare say he havent proved that he is better than me. His relationship with platoon definitely better than me cos i have this habit of being selective with people i talk to. Thats my biggest drawback. IPPT i think i can only win in 2.4km and definitely SOC. Running is no doubt most important thing in army. i hope they focus more on running and endurance :] and those military skills, like technical handling, first aid, marksmanship, camouflage, drawing of range card, i am slightly better.

anyway the criteria to go OCS are getting so incoherent just like choosing the platoon best. my platoon best cant work with his own platoon and almost the whole platoon hated him. Seeing a few who are confirmed going OCS, i wondered what they are looking for in OCS. Someone who got screwed by an officer for not being able to account for his men? Someone who leads passively? Someone who is well-liked by his platoon?

Anyway, i am just happy that i had done my best in BMT. Especially when a few of the sergeants had given me their trust and support. I was given the right to pump recruits... :P

oh yeah, i got my ipod shuffle. its really cool but apple really know how to earn money. i had to buy the usb charger for 54 bucks... arghz. ipod shuffle had an internal battery that is non-replaceable. but still its sleek and cool :] quality gd. i can shuffle or un-shuffle the songs. :]

..:: 295. The One With Results ::..

Oh well, the day i dreaded came. i was fully prepared... totally didnt think of it at all as you can see from my last few entries. I was hoping i pass my maths and i am happy.

things werent that simple after all...

i got the luxury to rot my time off cos results are out at 230pm. so i have to trouble poor joan, smsing her cos i was idling ard. Waiting for my friend so we can go lunch.

Our batch did better than the previous and whats more, the previous batch had the best results like in 20 yrs... what more to say? mickey mouse was grinning all the way (if u noe who i'm talking abt)

Looking at the list of distinctions, i realised dun haf any names from my class... i began to worry and panic...

my pd tutor had to 'dao' me before i get my results... some students from other class had to cut in and thank him for his guidance and blah blah blah. i had to freeze and wait in horror.

when i saw my result slip, i saw the first grade and it was maths. mmm... something i wish to see but definitely something not i hoped for. confusing huh? nvm. i saw my GP grade i almost jumped for joy. i got B3. u may say 'chey' but to a person who failed GP most of the time and with comments from my pd-cum-gp tutor 'what the hell have you been doing for the past 2 yrs?' 'i think you seriously need to buck up if not you will fail A lvl'... With that dont u think getting b3 is like a feat to me?

But overall, i didnt do as well. kinda expected cos my prelim was trashy... got E8 for GP somemore failed overall. ugliest report ever. i did what i could savage and i improved for all my subjects. My testimonial was kinda well written.

my plan: apply for uni courses and also retake as private.

If my admission is successful, i can always redraw and get refund for my A lvls.
I know myself i definitely can do better cos i wasted my J1 dreading on my wrong choice to change JC and wasted lots of time crying over spilled milk.

i have planned what i wanna do but somehow somewhere there are bound to have people who will ask me my results. i mean if they are concerned about me, i dont mind. But not all.

'hows your results?'
'har? how? what you gonna do next?'

insensitive tone. so what if i tell u what i'm gonna do? only invite more questions.

'hows your results?'
'what happened?'

so tempted to ans 'like dat lo'. 2 ways to ans. 1st is to say u screwed up. 2nd is to say you didnt put in enough effort. but whatever the reason, they can only feel bad for you.

for my case, it was a sad one. when i told my uncle the 2nd reason, he mocked at me. 'see i told you to put in effort, now i think you can go study chinese medicine'
*ouch* i am back in spore so i cant curse and swear. with that i broke down... had to call my closest friend and find some comfort.

Its not easy to find peace with yourself, telling yourself to take things postively. i wasnt that sad about my results and its not the end of the world. but irritating people have to come along and either make me feel worse or make me feel that i have disappointed them.

Why must people dwell about what had happened? For me, i know which areas i am weak in cos right before i went for my exams i knew i did not have time to fully comprehend them.

Finding a space to reflect on where to improve is definitely very hard especially these few days when everybody is so interested in how each other is doing.

Plus my pillar of support is not here, i hope i can last the 24km route march...

strange thing is that whats occupying my mind now is more of my posting after bmt.

oh must thank my sweet red cross senior cynthia who offered to tutor me maths cos she got like all As? lol.

..:: 294. The One With Platoon Best ::..

Friday morning went to whitesands to wait for my army buddies to book out cos i need to get the parade tickets and some stuff from my buddy. Saw a few of them face as dark as charcoal. i wondered what happened...

In the end, the sergeants announced the platoon best and platoon top 10 names. Some feel that the platoon best was not deserving cos the platoon cant work with him. Some find him wayang.(talk a lot action very little)

My buddy was platoon 2nd. Parents of platoon best get to sit at the grand stand so my buddy was a bit pissed cos it was one of the rare chance he could make his parents proud and i can fully understand.

One of my other friend was pissed cos not only he's not in the top 10 but a person who didnt perform much got into top 10. the more angry he was, the more amusing i found. i mean, IMO, you should know your own performance, how good your leadership and stuff... there's no need for such useless ranking to demean yourself. Just by looking at the top 10, i can comfortably say i can only look up to a few, those who really have leadership qualities and great personality, well liked by peers.

pple in top 10, there are those who got screwed by officers for not able to account for their men properly. those with muscles but lack of brain power, not spontaneous enough. those who are popular and well-liked (in limelight) but got no substance. those who only know how to shout at others, but not showing standard themselves.

Disclaimer: 'those' may be an overstatement. I may be referring to only one particular person.

With that, do u still think the top 10 stands? Not trying to console myself or what, but if you still have the logic and eyes to see, you will know it yourself, why let such lame ranking bother you?

There are also some blur cocks living in their own world, they would vote for people whom they see or hear a lot. In the end, they sure vote for those 'wayang' pple. I realised this when i chatted with a few of them and they are seriously so innocent that they dunno what is actually happening behind the scene.

Not being arrogant or what, but for those who know me well, based on my own leadership, those i can look up to with real leadership, i can count with one hand. :]

[ 293. The One With arghz.. fuck it. ]

its been such a long time... had a great time during my birthday book out. i was so glad i could hold back my confinement for one more week.

i think my BMT i haf experienced quite a lot. perhaps no guard duty... got confined because of stupid IMT misfiring. quite unfair, computers may not be 100% correct but no chance to argue. quite a few of us experienced rifle probs but heck it, at least 7 other pple confining wif me.

Range

oh, super sian when u are waiting for ur turn to shoot. initially thot live rounds were scary but after the first few, my ears got quite numb and its a lot easier to shoot compared to the 'arcade shooting'. first day shooting ended around 1230am.

2nd day even later... cos got night shooting test. we ended ard 1am +

wat made me angrier was that some M2 guys misfired during live range and they got only 1 confinement like us. live range VS arcade shooting.. how can they be equal...


Another thing that pissed me off was that they told us we were confined and not allowed to book out on fri night. so last minute but hey cant blame SAF... they have their own SOPs...

sat got some remedial training for those who failed IPPT.... thats the reason why we cant book out, cos we need to clock more than 22 hrs...

i wasnt tt sad cos tt week i was the platoon IC and i received feedback that i did a great job :] i think i might have surprised some and even the instructors... tt week very lucky for me... even though we were the last platoon to fall in but somehow i managed to make the platoon fall in the place the activity was going to be conducted and frm there i conducted water parade... sometimes have to OTOT drink up so pple wont noe we are the last... we came down last but in the end get to send arms first... aww.. i love myself. last time instructors have to rush the ICs... but for me, i kept going to the office and calling them. Caught a few of my sgts eating, sleeping in the office sia.I still think that red cross trained me well... compared to others who were from NPCC or NCC... no nid to say la. :] i'm now more motivated to train my cadets to be as polished.

280205, Mon

After getting confined, i had IPPT in the morning... i dreaded it cos i nvr passed. i trained hard on sat and slept thru'out sun to rest my muscles. The IPPT was kinda cool cos all were computerised... all with sensors and stuff... sit up u have a voice counting for u... and when i reached the chin up station i froze...

but when i pulled once, i got that feeling i could do it, wif my buddy cheering for me, i managed a 7. but had to minus one cos the instructor said i kicked. oh well i still passed! when i came down, i was elated cos i knew i had a chance to go command school... IPPT was my only hurdle. lucky me, i only decided to change my grip: from overgrasp to undergrasp... if not i think i still cant pull...

oh well... nuting much, had a very last min drill competition prelim round, only practised for 2 hrs and dun think got chance. today is games day. i spent the day at sick bay cos of sore eyes. the doc gave me and the rest of the 7 guys who got sore eyes attend C.

tml getting results and obviously i'm scared... watever it is, i will remain optimistic cos i have pple who support me :]

POP soon in like 5 days time?
hopefully i get posted to OCS...

[ 292. The One With My 8th Book Out ]

oh well. sun is coming, my holiday is ending, back to training.

today went for lunch with red cross friends. they said i look funny. mmm... maybe without my hair, my head looks smaller? went to china square the village. didnt know got such a place so similar to marche...

then finally went shopping spree... at wisma atria and taka. dunno what to buy so walk abt and see watever fancies me then i buy. saw quite a lot of pple and a few maggot recruits like me. bought a chain for my army buddy for his birthday. bought something for vdae too...

went to UK fun fair at woodlands. damn fun but ex.

haiz. sunday's gonna be boring... for the first time. mmm...

[ 291. The One With KBox Madness ]

.The Eve.

had a great dinner... lots of GOOD food like abalone, lobster, crab, scallop, sea cucumber, etc. even better than wat buddha jumps over the wall. forced to play mahjong wif my parents and my sis. absolutely no luck, never won once.

.Day 1.

just cant help but feel that CNY has lost its meaning... maybe long ago. today i went to visit my paternal relatives. maybe its the dialect. maybe its the generation gap. i find my sisters and i nothing to say to our relatives. as for the children of our relatives, we had nothing to say to each other. firstly they were either too young. If not, there were this two girls who were super hiao. You can see them touching up their make up or look into their cosmetic mirror every 5 mins. i think they kinda overdo their make-up. so thick that if i slap them, the powder would come off.

strangely all my relatives are 'strategically located'. i just need to travel from pasir ris to tampines. my maternal relatives are located at amk/bishan area.

after that, my sisters and i went to kbox. sang from 3-7pm. the bill came up to be 81 bucks!

haha. some1 so sweet accompany for dinner. orchard road was haunted that night. you can cross the roads without having to wait for the green light. it was a wonderful night. i wont beg for anything less! lol.

.Day 2.

this time i get to talk to my relatives cos i meet them often and they at least speak mandarin. managed to convince my stingy mum that a taxi ride is worth it from amk to bishan. end the day wif singing again. i'm addicted. enuff said.

it was a good night sleep. partly because of a $50 hongbao. partly shant disclosed.

.Day 3.

today the streets are empty again cos pple are either schooling or working. left NS guys like us wandering aimlessly.

high tea at some place wif my vball frenz.

vball game at night.

for now. adieu.

[ 290. The One With My 7th Book Out: An eventful week ]

so many happenings this week.

Sitest (situation test)
Live Grenade Throw
SOC (standard obstacle course)

Had to march 12km to the sitest, first time my feet felt numb. first day of the 3-day sitest, we had to learn basic knots and pick two skills that we want to learn.

there are:
medic (most shiong)
signaller (i chose this, cos its just radio comm)
navigator (another slack one)
demo
claymore
lawgunner
mine

i had the list of stations that we went through for the sitest. hee... i was IC for one of the mission and it was a success... first day i wasnt IC of any mission... we only succeed 2/6 missions. the second day we all 6 missions were successes :]
lucky there was a change in assessors...

as for hand grenade, it was once-in-a-lifetime experience... taking cover at the bay and hear the explosion and the vibration. shiok-ful.


safety ring twist
safety ring pull
safety pin out

grenade prepared and ready to throw, sir

hee... i'll never forget this :]

after the HG throw, came back for arms drill... sun is bloody hot and i almost fainted, so dehydrated... 10 mins break for a 2 hr footdrill session? all thanks to our sgt major. it was an interesting sight to see him shout at the sgts...

SOC... mmm... its like a military playground. not much problem... but its entertaining to watch others ...