Lately, there have been several drastic changes taking place in my life.

the first, and most obvious one, would have to be my enlistment in the SAF. my long absence would probably have clued you in on the fact that i've completed my 2-week holiday in an island resort, aka. confinement period in pulau tekong. now, only 13 more weeks to go before i POP on 21 march. right now, it seems like a terribly long time, but from personal experience, i know it's going to seem to pass really quickly...once it's over.

army life is a lot more controlled/strict/regimental than regular civillian life. while it does take some getting used to, it's not all that bad. i think being in a boys' school for 4 years definitely helped in the acclimatization process. there have been some new experiences, like getting to use a real M16 (incidentally, isn't it odd that the law allows 16-18 year-old guys to hold rifles and shoot live ammunition, but not to watch porn?), learning some foot drills (which i have a headstart in, thanks to the BURST camp in cat high), hand-washing your own clothes, showering with cold water only, and other interesting stuff. it's mostly been quite slack, but i hear things pick up after the first book-in.

in the army, everyone comes in on equal footing. luckily, that's the case in my section. there's been no discrimination or politics, which i find to be a blessing. as an added bonus, everyone's getting along really well. our superiors also seem...human. they do get angry and roar at us, but there are times where they laugh and joke around too. it helps to foster a closer relationship, i think.

well, i think that covers the bare essentials of army life. honestly, i'm still apprehensive of the whole 2 years thing, but i figure since i'll have to do it anyway, i might as well make the best out of it.

lastly, merry christmas!

-random thought of the day: Booking in on christmas day is no fun.-

This'll most probably be my last post for a week or two (or three). so, i figure i'd better get started on the first of my 2 year-end posts.

2006 has been a rather interesting year...i think an appropriate theme for it would have to be "sharing electrons", or more simply, "forming bonds" (sorry, i couldn't resist. it's the chem student in me). a common trend i notice is that classes tend to only bond closely in their final year together in the school. it's the same for both my sec 4 and J2 classes. though with T20, much of the closeness was there already in J1, so we didn't have to work too hard at it this year. i know i don't say it enough, but i am extremely happy to have been placed in T20. i don't think i could ask for 25 better people (and 5 better teachers) in CJC. though there have been some rough times (probably more than i'd like to remember), we still made it through the 2 years relatively smoothly.

well, so much for my class. next, my school. as i've mentioned before, i did not expect my stay in CJC to last beyond 3 months. and yet, i've graduated from it. funny how fate works. anyway, i suppose it was for the best that i stayed in CJC. the people are generally nice, friendly, and (as far as i know) politics rarely exist within groups. only problem is the administration can be a tad too rigid/demanding at times, and this had led to some clashes within the staff, which will end up being the school's loss as some teachers are leaving already.

moving on to the personal side, i think i've been doing ok this year. no major outbursts or anything like that (except for the occasional scream or three when stressed). after referring back to my new year's post, i realize i've succeeded in fulfilling only a limited number of my new year's resolutions. still, i'm quite proud of myself, in the sense that there have not been any major screw-ups or stuff like that. well, none that i know of, at least. for all i know, i may be saying something completely different next march.

in summary, there have been some significant achievements (NYAA especially), as well as some trying times, both in and out of school. still, i've made it through this far, largely due to the support of those around me. so, i'd like to say "thank you" to everyone in my life. do make an effort to keep in touch in the future!

you know, i bet there are some things which i've forgotten. but i really can't think of them now, so i may edit this post in the future. also, there are things which i can't seem to fit in, like some of the new friends i've made, the frenzied pre-prelim and A-level night studying, training and training camps, and various other events. i haven't forgotten them; it's just that it's difficult to put them anywhere in the paragraphs above.

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to be perfectly honest, i'm not really looking forward to the drastic change in my life. army is kind of foreign, and all the stories i've been told don't really help things either. yes, i know most of them are no longer true, that we're getting slackened-down training as compared to 10 or 20 years ago, and the vegetables are no longer sandy. it's hard to imagine that i'll finally be facing this...THING which i've been hearing about since childhood. i suppose it's like meeting someone famous, like the president, only that this entity is neither human nor the president. well, i guess i'll go in there for the 2 years, and get out. no fuss, no trouble. just maintaining a low profile.

so, that about wraps up what i need to say for now. with that, i'm off to settle my christmas cards and check over my army stuff again.

see you all again (hopefully) at christmas!

-random thought of the day: Weird Al Yankovic performs "Yoda" live!-

It's amazing what one can learn while attending a class gathering. at one of those functions on monday, i learnt that there are 2 more couples within my class. apparently, it's been going on since the A-levels ended. for the privacy of the parties concerned, i'm not going to mention names, though i must admit i'm quite surprised at the pairings. not what i'd have imagined, but oh well. if it works out, i'll be happy for them. if not, well, at least they tried. after all, "It's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all." (this quote of the day is brought to you courtesy of Alfred, Lord Tennyson).

i haven't sent (or, for that matter, bought or written) my christmas cards yet! to most ordinary people, this wouldn't seem like such a big deal at this time. thing is, this year, i'm not classified as "ordinary" because of that big monster in camouflage paint which calls itself "NS". so, i'm going to have to shop for, write, and mail about 20 to 35 cards by thursday evening. not completely impossible, but it'll definitely take quite a bit of time. i'm looking to start a tradition with this christmas cards thing, and as the unwritten rule goes, the act must be carried out for 3 consecutive years/months/measure of time before it's an official tradition. so, this will be the third year i send the cards out, and this'll officially make it a tradition. yays. the same applies for my year-end posts. but since this year's different, i think i'll do 2 of them, one for my J2 year in CJC (which must be up by thursday night), and the other for my initial impressions of army life, provided i can blog about the stuff going on in the army, that is.

upon the ending of one phase of my life, one thing i try to do is resolve all bad feelings/relationships that have been accumulated. i guess it's a way of clearing any misunderstandings and whatnot before a new phase begins. it's...relieving, for lack of a better description. this time, there's one particular thing involving one particular person which i want to bring to a close. no point dragging the issue on, yes? might as well get it over and done with and give everyone some peace of mind.

having said that, i think i'm off to get some rest. tomorrow's another long day.

-random thought of the day: Go to Black Angus sometime...it's worth it!-

Does hot or cold travel slower?

the answer, of course, is cold. i can confidently say this as i've just caught one of the little buggers, but i have yet to catch a hot. my nose is alternating between blocked up and runny, and i'm not in the best of moods right now. but i figure it'll clear up within the next 2 to 3 days or so.

today was pretty fun. we FINALLY had a 4-6 gathering! this is especially significant as it's the first time i've seen some of them in 2 years, and it'll probably be the last time i see them for another 2 years due to NS and all that. though the attendance could have been better (we got 10/32 people), i still consider it quite a success. after all, it's better than nothing, right?

oh. graduation night. how could i nearly forget to mention that? even though i did most of the shopping barely a day before, i think it turned out ok. as for the actual event, it was mostly successful, except that the emcee had to work hard to get the crowd going. for the first time, i got drawn in a lucky draw! thing is, i didn't win the prize. who knew that the price of a DVD player could go up to $535? but oh well. i suppose it's for the best, as i didn't have to lug that bulky thing around all night.

also, i tried clubbing. i can safely say that that'll be the first and last time i go. too much smoke in the air. still, i can now honestly say i've been clubbing before.

i think it's the lack of sleep that's screwed my immune system up. without further ado, i'm off to clock in some solid hours of unconsciousness. hopefully my cold will go away before tomorrow's appointments.

-random thought of the day: That lemon-flavoured Panadol thing doesn't work!-