Sunday, February 27, 2005
Am breaking the rules once again by blogging from the Bravo Wing conference room while serving my extra duty. This has to be the shortest weekend ever.
Saturday started off with me dragging About-To-Fly-Back-to-Australia-Felicia off to beach road to look at ceremonial sword cases, of which i was utterly disappointed that the supposed "showroom" contained like, ugh, three cases on display which i'd already seen before.
But thankfully, it turned out to be a great well-spent last day out with Fel after that. Fel, who's won the title of Person Who's Always Free To Go Out With Me On Saturdays was amazing company as usual. If you're reading this fel, have a safe flight back and remember to study hard!
a little sigh.. it seems like a cruel twist of fate that when a guy is lucky enough to have two bestest female super-friends (yes im talking about YOU, debbie and fel!) they both have to be overseas most of the time. -grumble-
The night was a little retarded. Met up with army buddies jon, edmund, lester and jason "red ranger" chew for clubbing at MS. Since Coco latte had no party, and mystique looked really dead, we opted (wrongly) for the last resort: cheeky monkey. heh. Still, the music was good and we had lotsa fun making racist jokes in the middle of the indian-dominated dance floor. (all in good fun, of course, we're not really racist)
Stayed up all night surfing after that, and went booked into camp at 7am to my extra after that. Ended up sleeping all day.. -yawn-
What. A. Short. Weekend. Bleargh.
he rocked the party at 4:57 AM |
Monday, February 21, 2005
Here are some quotable quotes said by a few people around OCS..
By Lieutenent-Colonel Chua Jyh Ming, Wing Commander of Bravo Wing:
"What is the what?"
By OCT Chew Ann Ming a.k.a Jason, when asked why he's called Jason:
"Because when i was young, i liked the RED RANGER!!"
(after laughter from us)
"Eh, Red Ranger is COOL, okay?!"
Hahahahah!! Army's a real funny place when you think abt it.
he rocked the party at 3:49 AM |
Sunday, February 20, 2005
I had a blast yesterday, with the SAJC fun fair in the morn till afternoon, NTU's Danceitude hip-hop concert in the evening and Maddie's farewell bbq laaate into the night! Whooooppeeedooo..
SAJC's Campus Rumpus reminded me just how much of a Saint i truly am. Couldnt help feelin the familiar infectious happy cheer from the moment i stepped into the side gate. Amidst a day of blistering heat, it was a wonderful day of meeting old friends, catching up with teachers, hugs, high-fives, funky handshakes and heck, good ol plain fun. The crowd was happening (admittedly, much more happening than the Open House organized by my 25th council, which is saying something already) and the food and games were innovative and yummy. (but albeit overpriced)
Yen and I doin' that Matrix thing on the SAJC track
I stand by my stand (huh?) that my jc days have always been my happiest, so thank you, and well done SAJC!
Next on the list was hip-hop concert Danceitude at NTU with Jaime, Jessica and Cynthia. Well, what can i say, hip-hop's infectious, and watching the music, listening to the grooves, just made me want to go back to Patrick's dance class at Jitterbugs again. (which i did, just now! haha) All thanks to the great princess Kelly, of course, who provided the tickets. You put up an amazing performance, i am thoroughly impressed! Bonus of the evening was seeing Junli dancing together with guest performers NUS Dance Blast, much to Jessica's delight. Its amazing how people transform on stage, aint it?
Mua with Junli, Jessica, Jaime and Cynthia. I'm looking slightly constipated because Junli insisted on me stooping so i wouldnt be taller than her. -groan-
And what better way to wrap up the evening than spending it with the First Three Months Cool Clique of SA at Maddie's bbq? haha.. good luck back Down Under, madd..
What the heck la, i wish every saturday could be as enjoyable as yesterday. Days like these just make me happy to be me after all. :P
sidenote: i dont have much, but other pics of that super funnerific day can be found in my new photoalbum.. just look under "Links". this is for you, Jo! :)
he rocked the party at 2:56 AM |
Friday, February 18, 2005
Another piece of evidence of why I'm Not Meant To Be A Soldier:
Advanced Trainfire Programme (translated: super difficult shooting test which gives you a shiny marksmanship badge and $200 if you do really well in it) has just ended and heck, it was tough. (But pretty fun anyways)
Bang bang bang.. run run run.. pant pant, bang bang bang.
Anyways, i passed it quite safely, but didnt do well enough to be a marksman. Congrats to the three of us in Bravo Wing who did!
(nyahh nyaaahh Echo Wing, we beat you! Ha.)
So no $200 this time round.. boo.
he rocked the party at 5:44 PM |
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
"You dont know how you've touched my life,
in so many ways i just cant describe
You taught me the way love's supposed to be
Its the little things that make you beautiful to me.."
he rocked the party at 4:34 AM |
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
I wrote this in my ocs journal under the light of a bedside lamp after a night's out on valentine's night:
All it took was a soppy "I Do I Do" movie (with two other guys, mind you.. haha) on tonight's love-is-in-the-air Valentine's Day for it to hit me again. The L-word, i mean. Havent blogged about it since the separation. And to think that a home-grown movie has such an impact indeed: The sappy music ("jiu shi ni.."), the images of sharon au and whoever-the-heck-that-handsome-guy-is embracing in the rain, coupled with that supercharged atmosphere of flower-grasping couples smiling in contentment, has caused the 10-foot wall around me to come crashing down, leaving me, once again, confused about that immortal mystery known as, LOVE.
(just an irrelevant side-point, the last time a local movie had such an impact on me was when Chicken Rice War was showing on channel 5.. dont ask.)
V-day, no matter how many times i declare it as overrated, overcommercialized and overpriced, has its inevitable magic. And once again, its effected me in the very way i've built myself up to defend against. The past three months was surprisingly easy. It was a simple task to crowd out all of the disgusting emotions that comes with the absence of love with packed activities, dates, gatherings, clubbing escapades and army. But of course, love has that sneaky way of wriggling its way into your consciousness when you least expect it, triggered by the most insignificant of occurances: being alone on Valentine's day.
Dont get me wrong: i will never go out of my way to find a valentine's day date when im single. Its just wrong. (not to mention, desperate) However, looking at how happy couples are together, (especially when there're a whole LOT of couples) you cant help but ask yourself, "what's that like?" What's it like spending the day in total bliss with the one you love, truly love for that matter, travelling back to those romantic puppy love days when the sun shone and the world danced with you?
If only love would come when we wanted it to. If only it wasnt so difficult to hold on to once you've received it. And if only it didnt hurt once it went away. She and i didnt work out.. there was a chance that it would, in the distant future, but recent events have changed my perspective entirely. Its taking quite a bit of courage to blog this, actually.
And so the search goes on. Maybe it shall never end. Maybe I wont let it end. But i shall never know till i know. (now, that sounded confusing, yes i know)
Tomorrow, I'm going to wake up with the spell broken. I shall re-enter the world of the military, the parties, the cameraderiae and the mindless exploits. Love shall seem insignificant once again. But it'll never really leave. It'll stay gnawing at the back of my mind, waiting for that little spark, like tonight's Valentine's Day magic, to grow and envelop me, leaving me vulnerable and confused once again.
-written 14 Feb 2005, 11.32pm
On a happier note, to those who've experienced the magic last night, Happy Valentine's Day!
he rocked the party at 12:29 AM |
Friday, February 11, 2005
There's an undescribable guilty pleasure in staying up till 5am and waking up at 12 for four consecutive days.. Simply beautiful. From ultra long-queued, body-packed Zouk on chu yi to gambling into the wee hours of the morn with my (ever wonderful) Council to last night's high-inspired escapades at Phuture, life in the fast lane is how life should be lived. Ohh yea.
And, lesson learnt: dont EVER wear boxers to go clubbing. Ever.
he rocked the party at 8:45 PM |
You're so childish, its pathetic. There's a reason why gifts are called "gifts", cause you GIVE them to someone. If i wanted to lend people things, i'd start a library. Geez. You're so childish i shant even waste my time telling you. Go live your sad little life.
he rocked the party at 8:31 PM |
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
my favourite cousin.. isnt he schweet?
he rocked the party at 9:33 PM |
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Admittedly, there arent any pics worth taking in brunei. I really wanted to take pictures of stuff i built during Chillhermit, but cameras werent allowed. And for fear of ruining my camera during water crossing, i didnt manage to take pictures of the great Milo-brown Apoi River..
But there ARE a few pics i'd like to share! Should you want to check out the rest, visit my album! (the link can be found under the links section)
that badge..
our Chillbone route over 4 days.. looks easier than it is
2 ways of wearing the SAF condom hat.. ahem, i mean, jungle hat.
the sailor way..
.. and the hip-hop way
Okay that's enough you egoistical ass you.. -grin-
he rocked the party at 9:28 AM |
"The jungle is an antidote to the rush of modern life and the rush of trivia that seems so indispensible to our discomfort; it is an ideal place for a man to come to terms with himself and it is also excellent in teaching young commanders what command and leadership really entails." -Unknown
Well okay, so i overcame it. One of OCS' greatest challenges at that too. With a little bit of skill, a little bit of luck, a lot of endurance, and a whole lot of help from God. Admittedly, it wasnt as tough as i thought it'd be, but it was difficult nevertheless. Im starting to think that i live for moments like these, when i can look back at my achievements and gloat. Dont we all?
the JCC course
Exercise Nomad: a 3 day 2 night navigation exercise, which was a veto factor for jcc. Carrying a maximum of 10 points, teams require a minimum of 1 point to continue on with jcc. It was remarkably unremarkable after all the hoo-hah over it. As usual, my trusted companions and i of navex group Bravo 02 have proved ourselves by coming in first yet again. The celebration, however, was cut short when a bloody insect flew into my ear and died there. Shall elaborate later..
Exercise Chillhermit: a 5 day and 5 night survival exercise, where i was required to build an A-frame shelter, monitor lizard and bird traps, a fire place, smoke teepee, a spear, a fishing rod, carve utensils and weave a rope, all using materials found in the jungle. We also had to identify food and water sources, slaughter, skin and cook a quail. All this without food and (supposedly) in total isolation.
Taken from my journal entry "this one's for the blog", written out of total boredom:
"Chillhermit was depressing. It was depressing from the moment Ian and I clambered up the muddy slope of that sad little island in the middle of the murky milo-brown river which we were required to drink from. It was depressing to have your feel sink into the ground up to your ankles 24 hours a day. It was depressing to see swarms of insects. After the initial enthusiastic (and tiring) spurt of chopping down trees and building my A-frame, both my energy and morale were totally sapped. Perhaps it was the first time EVER when i know i was tasked to do other important things and simply did NOTHING about them.
What a depressing feeling.
To have your stomach growl at least 8 times a day. This was the total amount of food i received: 3rd day (reward day) - 1 sweet potato, 1 tapioca, a few ferns and a live quail
5th day - 1 sweet potato
Killing the quail was surprisingly easy. Didnt give myself time to think twice and simply twisted its head off the moment picked it up from the instructors. (Criteria for skinning: 2.5 pts for your confidence level in killing it, and 2.5 pts for identifying the gall bladder) Skinning it was a little harder. The thing was still flapping its wings even with its head off. The intestines were mushy, slimy and stinky.. but i managed to find the gall bladder after a bit of poking around. It was depressing to look at my blood-stained hands and realise that i was a quail killer. Vowed that i shall never kill anything again unless i really have to.
It was even more depressing not being able to start a fire after getting all that food. Really. I am HOPELESS at maintaing a fire. Starting it is no problem, but it never lasts for more than 5 minutes. After numerous unsuccessful attempts, (and 1.5 boxes of matches) I managed to come up with a minute fire which lasted long enough for me to half-boil my quail. Half-boiled quail isnt bad really, but its not something i'd wolf down if i wasnt starving. The quail smell remained in my clothes for the next 2 days till i left the island. Was so glad to leave that pathetic little island on the 6th morning. I doubt i left enough materials and vines for the next batch to use. Good luck to Echo Wing then.."
Exercise Chillbone: a 4 day navigation exercise where teams are required to reach the end point in 44 daylight hours. (you're not allowed to move from 6 in the evening to 6 in the morning) It was my first truly frustrating navigation exercise. Im seriously not used to the feeling of getting majorly lost during navex, but that's what happened. Part of it was due to the split of my dream team Bravo 02 in an attempt to mix the teams up, thus i ended up in a group where the majority was made of people whom ive never navigated with before.
I grew pissed and irritable, sometimes angry even, surprising myself at how bitter i was capable of feeling. Still, you dont get anywhere by staying angry, so i managed to push myself to work with my new team. We didnt move as fast as i would've liked, but we still managed to stagger back afer 38 hours, which was a relief. The hunger was killing me, since we were given only 1.5 days worth of rations for 4 days. Not the successful quick navex as i'd planned, but i guess everyone's gotta learn how to deal with hardship sometime..
buzzin
Lets talk about the insect in the ear thing. It sounds funny, but i assure you its not funny if you're the one affected. Heh. Was sitting contentedly by the warm fire, basking in the warmth and the triumph bring the 1st group to complete Ex Nomad. A big black insect kept buzzing around and irritating me. The buzzing approached my left ear and grew louder and louder till i feel a flutter of wings on my outer ear. Was suddenly engulfed by the sudden DISGUSTING feeling of crawly legs inside my ear. Sound turned muffled as the struggling insect went deeper and deeper. Irritation turned into pain and i felt the damn thing touching my ear drum. Screamed in pain every time the insect moved. My friends, laughing over themselves initially, grew concerned when the pain didnt stop. Finally, they poured water into my ear, which must have drowned the bloody thing cause it stopped moving afer that. But it just refused to get out.
Everyone from my teammate, to the officer at the end point, to the Medical Officer back in camp the next day tried everything, but couldnt get it out. Henry even bravely put his mouth to my ear and tried to suck it out. But it was just too damn deep in, and hurt whenever people tried to remove it. Finally, they sent me to the city's general hospital to see a specialist, who extracted it by using this scary looking suction gun which hurt like crazy. But it was a huge relief when it came out. Thankfully, my ear drum was still intact.
All in all, i do NOT recommend anyone to put any live thing whatsoever into your ear. Its a VERY unpleasant experience. :)
the results
Almost my entire Wing managed to pass JCC in the end, less four guys who fell out due to medical reasons. So we achieved a 97.something % pass rate, as compared to last batch Delta-Foxtrot which only had 55%. The weather played a big role, admittedly, i was blessed with lovely sunshine for most of the 12 days outfield.
So as they say in "Gone in 60 Seconds." Now that's over. Done. Finished.
7 more weeks till Commissioning...
he rocked the party at 1:29 AM |
Pet Peeve #1: Coming home after three weeks of listening to your mp3 player's songs for about 10 times over, and not being able to find your favourite Zouk Flava CD.
WHERE IS IT???!!
he rocked the party at 12:40 AM |
Monday, February 07, 2005
Ladies and gentlemen, its your friendly neighbourhood gallant knight in shining armour, (who's a little more cheerful than when i last posted an entry) blogging from an internet cafe while on my 1 day r & r (read: BORING)in brunei!
A quick brief update before i bore you with the details when i return home tomorrow, just in time for chinese new year:
-I managed to earn that coveted Jungle Confidence Course badge!
-An insect flew into my ear about 2 weeks ago and got stuck there, resulting in me needing to go see a specialist in the city here(yes i know it sounds weird)
-1 lost 7 kg after 9 days of Exercise Chillhermit and Chillbone
-i've probably gained about 5 kg after 3 days of ferocious eating
-I have absolutely no pics worth taking during my stay here. -sigh-
-i have 6 days of break till sunday! whoohoo!!
-i have tickets to an ntu hip hop dance concert on the 19th
-i have, and am selling, tickets to sajc's funfair on the 19th
-im looking for company to go for both with.. anyone interested?
And of course, i cant wait to go back. -smiles-
See y'all soon!
he rocked the party at 1:02 AM |
