Life Waves.

Hey guys..

Sorry I haven't/wouldn't provide(d) a lengthy description of SI (signal institute) today, but I shall try to do so eventually. Briefly, it's where one trains to be a signaller for the SAF. Which is quite cool because we get to study engineering stuff, and I'm enjoying myself over there..

But I think I'm not particularly in a blogging mood.. Loads of stress with regards to loads of things, least of which being a scholarship interview/selection on Monday. My ONLY scholarship application. So yeah - counting on it.

And I changed my phone to a better model, quite cool. Only to realise abrubtly that I'm not allowed to bring the phone into camp because it has a camera function. So my phone got confiscated temporarily before I learnt how to use it. So, perhaps if you had tried to contact me and found me uncontactible over the past week, yep. Anw, I got it back already, so.. yeah.. contactible again. OK. toodles

NB. Photos? Of what?

SIG OPR

The moments spent worrying anxiously.. Would I be disappointed i.e. get into a combat unit? Would I be depressed i.e. get into SISPEC? Would I be devastated i.e. get into OCS?

All solved at 1205 hrs on 170306..

I knew for a fact, OCS, well.. methinks out of the question. Perhaps Sispec - that would have been a good alternative. But combat unit.. tut tut tut..

But, I don't know what to make of my posting -

Your Posting Order is listed below:


1.
You are posted to
SIG INSTITUTE.
2.
Your vocation is
SIG OPR - INFOCOMM2.

That should be Signal Unit right? But.. How can that be? 50% of the 4 Peeris Cousin's before me have been assigned to that unit.. Now, WHAT were the chances of me getting posted there too?

Anyway, soon (like arnd 2sec later) i by-passed the shock emotion, and entered the 'yay-i'm-not-depressed-nor-disappointed-nor-devastated' mood, and then shortly afterwards came the 'yay-screw-ippt' mood..

But of course all good things have to come to an end, as soon I realised that in any case I still have to remain fit. buhh..

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Anyway, I have two more days to prepare myself for real NS - and who cares if the camp is in ChuaChuKang, or that if its a stay-in (duhh!), or that I can only book out for weekends (duh again)? On the bright side, at least I'm on the correct island, at least I don't have to take a freaking ferry, at least i might have a glimpse of the civilian (human) world once in a while, at least there are BUSES there.. etc.

BUSES! - we can actually take a BUS to camp!

Anw, I hope that this army experience would be fullfilling and not boring. But not super-shiong lah.. whatever lah..

cheers~ n peace (Again)

POP-O!!!

hurhur.. yep, i'm blogging at this hour.

and i'm a private now.. and i realised suddenly yesterday that that actually makes me one rank higher than the rest of the recruits remaining at BMTC. but seriously, big deal.

anw, so concluded my stay at Pulau Tekong with a POP that definitely could hv gone smoother, without the RSM (regimental sargeant major) hving to shout the command for the parade commander. technically i doubt anybody who wasnt at the parade would understand wat i jus said so lets jus say that the parade commander made a mistake or two in the giving of commands.. so we were doing stuff we weren't supposed to be doing. so definitely i was super blur.

but other than that, as well as a few people taking the meaning of Passing-Out Parade literally (Sang Mentari i.e. Mr. Sun was blazing down on us relentlessly, daring us to give in..), the parade went relatively smoothly. and the fact that my parents were in the extreme corner didnt help them view the parade as me, i was at the other extreme end. suay..

plus when they came down to look for me they had to ask sgt rejab (who had to come up to me and tell me "i saw ur parents.." in a tone i cannot reproduce in this account. mischievous?) where i was. according to them, every recruit private-to-be, black and yellow, looked exactly the same with the SBO and helmet on..

Anw, tts POP. a brief army de-brief. (coincidental play on words there)..

OK, basically, all the technical things are fun, and all the physical things are crap. and i forgot one more but i'm lazy to include in the diagram - FieldCamp!. tts under technical so its what? yes, FUN!..

So when the minister passed me by and asked me how was BMT, i answered "tough but enjoyable".. standard answer lah.. but true. physical part is tough, technical part is enjoyable.

imagine.. playing with things that if misused or played arnd with, can kill u plus pple arnd u. yep. hand grenade. the standard joke, pull out the safety pin and throw it... =D.

so.. remember kids:-

make sure ur physically fit BEFORE joining the enhanced leadership batch. if ur not, take the easy way out. put on a little more weight and join 6-month BMT..

and u'd just hv to wait a little longer to burn and melt (and 'pass out' in both meanings of the phrase) under the blazing hot sun.. but 2months is short.. and the end comes very fast.

Boys Today, Men Tomorrow

Boys Yesterday, Men Forevermore...

POP-O!!!

let me leave you with some photos from P.O.P. Hopefully sooner or later (maybe sunday) i can upload more pictures after consolidating them.

The Parade itself. Hawk Company is behind. And i can't be seen... hmmm..

Maan.. met up for the first (AND LAST) time in tekong island. U see kids, 2 months is a really really short time..

Now this is jus plain cool.. anw, seriously, this is when my parents came down to put my jockey cap on. they say its symbolic of my "tough but enjoyable" training. i think its just symbolic as a freedom from the blazing of the sun on my eyes. hence the pose of course.

ok.. BMT is full of memories and i hope to get more of those (happy) memories elsewhere.. sumhow we tend to remember the crap we go thru better.. e.g. the shit (literally) at field camp. so let me end by recalling a defining moment in BMT.

*clap*clap*

*punch fist in air*

GOOD-DAY!!!

Ole

3 more days

3 more days

3 more days to POP.

3 more days

3 more days

3 more days to becoming a private.

3 more days

3 more days

3 more days to when army (supposedly) gets tough(er)...

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My POP or Graduation Parade is in three days time. so how was BMT..?

They hv so much complaints abt BMT, yet there is so much say that BMT is the easiest part of Army Life. anw, i don care. i jus go my unit (not command sch most likely cos i failing ippt) n see for myself. now, what unit should i go to? MEdic? Signal? or some another infantry unit?..

there are pple who say they dont care what unit they go to (obviously due to BMT-induced-xian-ness) but i'm not one of them. i mean, naturally, u wld care. but u dont need to care. cos u hv no say.

everytime i think abt that line i think abt that song.. "they had no rights, they had no say, they longed to be free one day" which i think simplifies the feelings of most NSFs into a song ironically composed in the name of National EDucation..

i guess perhaps tts an exaggeration. guess NSFs do hv their say in most things, n they do hv their rights in most things.. but i think definitely the final phrase is universally accepted as truth by all normal NSFs..

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come to think of it.. when i first came into NS, i was like.. "to POP! to POP! to POP!".. now with POP jus arnd the corner and the true meaning of what comes with POP finally fully appreciated, POP is not that attractive anymore. now, whats so attractive now is ORD. "to ORD! to ORD! to ORD!"

but maybe thats the way life works.. which wld explain why some pple in advanced ages wait earnestly for their own POP. to greener pastures...

POP >> ORD >> Graduation-from-Uni + Finding Job >> Retirement >> Final Passing Out Parade.

ahh.. tts life.

pre A levels..

i think loads of pple wld blog after/upon receiving their a level results.. but seeing as i doubt i'd be in any mood to blog after a levels - (either too disappointed or too depressed)

yeah no typo there..

anw... today is ash wednesday by the catholic calender and hence its a day of fasting and abstinence.. but i think perhaps i'd jus go for the what-some-pple-wouldnt-call-fasting way of fasting. but i think its okay lah..

anw, its hard for pple to fast. its even harder for an army lad to fast. i donno, i dont seem to ever get full in my stomach unless the serving size is huge..

~.~

i think army has drained the "life" out of me.. in all aspects.. puh-lease please sum1 tell me i'm mistaken bcos i think as i write this blog my face has no smile, no emotion. not sad, not anxious, not disappointed, not kancheong. jus nothing. perhaps thats what they mean about giving your "life" for/to Singapore.. and i think the army is jus not for me lah..

i wouldnt sign up even if they pay me to do so. (come to think of it, they do pay us to sign up..) ah heck.. i think its too punishing on minor mistakes. of course, they say that increases efficiency, yep.. but where's the efficiency in around 200 pple sitting/standing in threes WAITING for things to happen?..

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i guess i'm still waiting to develop the "Cologne Army" (clone army).. or lets not be too adventurous. lets develop a Droid Army for our nation. THAT is national service. pah..

then again, i think even IF we had a droid/clone army we'd still hv to go for NS. why? bcos we, as the infantry, the bedrock of our army, tend to neglect the fact that technology has progressed from beyond the state where people fight with sticks and stones in catapults. any NS-man shld be familiar with this abbreviation - BCCT.

with a raging battle cry we run and whack opponents with our rifle/legs/arms. Granted, it invokes aggression into you and fear into ur enemy.. but wait, there's more. with a raging battle cry we leopard-crawl, back-crawl n retreat to base camp. !$*&@#?@! perhaps its just Jaguar Coy who practise this attempt to make the enemy die of confusion and/or laughter.

ok i've said enough. cheers.. n good luck for a levels..!

be back shortly.. hurhur..