..:: 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