Quick update before i go back to camp.

didn't run those errands after all, thanks to the rain. it feels like such a drag going out in wet weather, especially when there's high odds of you getting wet. this means i have to die-die do everything i need to do on friday, because that's the due date of my books, and also the day that the vouchers expire.

which is more important, time or money? the reason i ask that is because i'm sacrificing about an hour of my personal time to book in early, all because i don't want to take public transport. i think it's mainly the convenience factor.

anyways, that's about it. told you it was going to be a quick update. see you all next bookout.

It's been slightly more than a month since my last monday off. luckily for me, the timing of this particular off couldn't have been any better. the main reason i say that is because i realize i still have to run a few errands, which i have put off for quite a while. things like returning library books, spending a voucher from HMV, amongst other stuff. looks like i'll have to step out of the house for an hour or two later in the day.

yesterday was pretty memorable, because i hit my first level 50 in CoH. it's been a long time, but i'm finally there. benefit is i get to mess around a bit more, since my main objective has been fulfilled. and the bragging rights don't hurt either. now, time to decide - what to do next? i feel like creating a sotong (which is another class of hero, not the aquatic animal), or maybe work on some of my existing characters, like my mastermind. oh well, i'll decide on that later.

slightly more than a year has passed since the end of my A-levels. hard to believe that this time last year, i was slacking 24/7. somehow, i don't think the me from last year could have accurately predicted how my army life would turn out.

other than the abovementioned stuff, this weekend wasn't anything out of the ordinary. oh well. i'm suddenly quite gian for mahjong, but the odds of getting people on weekdays are rather slim. besides, if i were to play, i think that would drain what little motivation to book in i possess. ok. planning time. if i go out to do my stuff at 2, i should be back around 4 or 5, which gives me about 3 hours for CoH. quite possible. we'll see how it goes i guess.

-random thought of the day: It's going to be a 3-day week. Please pass fast!-

Looks like i did a pretty good job of forgetting my army troubles. this weekend was more enjoyable than most, largely due to my good mahjong luck, and some other contributing factors.

i'm starting to see a relationship between camp life and mahjong. seems like the more i suffer in camp, the better my luck will be when i play. for instance, after the absolutely lousy time i had in camp last week, i managed to win $13, and diao zheng 5 times consecutively. 2 personal bests in a day! it doesn't seem like much, but remember, i'm not the most pro player in my circle of friends, let alone the earth. so...i guess it's something to be proud about. now, wouldn't it be nice if i could do that all the time? sadly, the one thing i learnt about mahjong is that you can have your moments, but so can your opponents. just have to leave it to fate i guess.

yesterday was the first time i went to my cousin's house in quite a while (around 2 months, if memory serves). things are more or less the same, except that there have been a few changes to a few rooms. and you know what? i really don't know why i'm mentioning this, so let's move on, shall we?

seeing the christmas trees, decorations and lights as i passed by orchard road and the general town area yesterday made me realize how close to christmas it was. too bad the festive mood doesn't seem to be contagious, because i still feel rather subdued.

i had a sudden thought. you know the formula for gravitational force? F=GMm/r^2? it's sort of applicable to places you don't like. the closer you are to them, the worse you feel. of course, you could say the same for a lot of other formulas and situations. kind of pointless, no?

well, i think i've said enough for one post. come to think about it, it's really sad. i hear my friends saying how slack their life is in paya lebar air base, tekong, stagmont camp, and some other places. i could have been like them, but well, i got posted to sungei gedong, and i'm sure you know how the story goes from there. hopefully, i can muster the courage to talk to my OC and tell him about my decision. for now, i'm going to try to enjoy my last few hours of freedom before i go back in.

-random thought of the day: I think I'd rather take A-levels another time than serve NS.-

"Sir, would you support my decision if i told you i didn't want to do admin work any more?"

various forms of the same question have been popping up in my mind for the past week or two, but i only decided to voice it out yesterday. i haven't actually done it yet, because this is the single most mentally exhausting week in my NS life. i have had just about enough of doing meaningless stuff. why meaningless? because once i finish something, the format will change and i'll have to do it again. it's tolerable the first few times (depending on the task) but now, it's getting tiresome. oddly though, it doesn't seem so bad once i'm out of camp.

i think i have to familiarize myself with the SAF directives and stuff like that, because i get the feeling that someone is taking advantage of me. of course, it could be because we've just shifted and everything needs to be set up again, but i don't remember being this busy even when the guys came in. oh well. i think i'll talk it over with my other superiors and see whether a compromise can be reached.

route marches are getting rather uninteresting. and painful, let's not forget that. wearing boots over your blisters is really not good. hopefully they clear up over the weekend, because 16km is next thursday.

facebook really is amazing. while idly browsing, i've found out that some officers and specs in my unit have profiles there. not that surprising for NSFs, but regulars? captains and majors? stunning. i'm so tempted to go up to them and say, "hey sir! i found you on facebook!". i wonder...is it a worthwhile trade? potential 7 extras just to see the expression on their faces. don't think i'll be crazy enough to try. it's entertaining though, reading through their profiles. lucky i didn't find any blackmail material. heh.

anyways, it's the weekend, and i'm temporarily a civillian for around 2 days. so, i shall put my little bundle of worries in a dark, forgotten corner (probably where my homework from 10 years ago still lies) and only look at it again when i'm about to book in. with any luck, it'll shrink by itself. or maybe i'll be so good at forgetting and it'll remain there until i ORD.

-random thought of the day: I'm liking army less and less.-

More than half of my to-do list has been done, so i guess you could say that the last 2 days have been quite productive. to a large extent, the stuff on that list are things that i've been wanting/needing to do for a very long time, which brings a more-than-usual sense of satisfaction when i do do them.

went back to school today to collect my A-level certificate. i must say, i'm quite impressed with the folder i got. it looks so professional! i'm rather amused whenever i read my testimonials. personally, i feel that they're quite exaggerated. call me modest. heh. sadly, i still feel that slight pang of regret when i see my C for maths, and band 3 for PW. they're the 2 things that screwed up an otherwise decent-looking set of results. still, i have to lan lan, as nothing i do can change that. all i can do is hope my prospective employer/interviewer focuses on the AAB A2 instead.

swimming was interesting, to say the least. prior to this, it was 8 months ago when i last stepped into a pool. took a little while to get accustomed to the fluid dynamics again, but it was generally ok...except for this sharp pain in my lower back when i got out of the water. it's all but gone now, but it sure was scary then. i have my theories on how it developed, but let's not bore anyone to death here, shall we? one thing still puzzles me, and that is how competitive swimmers can hit such high speeds in water. guess i generate more drag force as opposed to them. oh well. physics of fluids has never been my forte.

most of the other stuff is pretty mundane. i mean, how fun can checking up on driving, ipods and a university be? ok, i'll admit checking out the ipod was pretty cool, but the other 2 were pretty unremarkable. if there's one thing i can conclude from my research, it's that i'm going to be quite short of money in the coming year. this is, of course, taking my savings target into account and making necessary concessions. even then, cash flow's still going to be restricted.

well, 2 days gone, 2 more to go. life is on the verge of becoming sian, but i shall not complain, because anything is better than being in camp. aside from those mentioned above, there haven't really been any interesting experiences. on an unrelated thought, 6 months in gedong down, another 13 more to go! now tell me, is that supposed to provide motivation or cause despair?

-random thought of the day: I really really need a new template.-

Perhaps i was a little too optimistic about this week.

though the working week was only 2 days long, certain factors made it a pretty bad week. what surprised me was that people were asking about my well-being, which was a first for me so far in camp. in essence, i relived my experience of setting up an office, but this office requires more stuff than the previous one. in addition, i don't have the luxury of taking things slow like i did last time, because the company is (or rather has been) up and running already. so...yes. the past 2 days haven't been that fun. and the fun forecast for the upcoming period is not looking good either.

on the much brighter side, there's 4.5 days of holiday! at the point of writing this post, 0.5 days has been sacrificed for rest and relaxation already, so that's an effective 4 more days to go! this is my idea of a planned week, one where you're out of camp more often than you're in. anyways, one (out of many) bad habit(s) i notice i have is that i make a lot of plans, then abandon them due to lack of time. so, to act as a reminder, i'm going to list down the things i want to do over the next 4 days. they are as follows, in no particular order:

- go swimming

- go shopping for some army essentials

- meet up with T20 guys (tentative)

- catch a movie (tentative)

- go for an evening walk

- borrow some books from the library (eragon?)

- get in touch with old cat high friends

- do research on the ipod touch

- play mahjong!

- get in touch with NUS (if they're open)

- collect my A-level certificate (provided the school's open, and they haven't trashed it yet.)

- research driving lessons and consider my options

- write (as in pen/pencil on paper type of writing)

- go to east coast (tentative)

- anything else which i may have forgotten at present

i must be quite ambitious to make such an extensive list, but certain points can be combined, like "go for an evening walk" and "go to east coast", forming "go for an evening walk at east coast". there are other possibilities, i'm sure, but i won't go into them. hopefully i get all of the items done.

today was quite a satisfying day. went to seletar camp for the engineer formation healthy lifestyle day or something like that. long story short, it just meant running 7.2km in less than 50 minutes. nothing unachievable, because if i can do it, everyone else in my unit can. AETC also took home quite a number of prizes, which made my RSM a happy man. only minor downside was that my shoes got extremely wet before and during the run. luckily, i brought my book-out shoes, so that helped quite a lot.

well, that's about it. pretty long post for such a short week. i'll most likely update a few more times over my 4-day break, so...stay tuned, i guess.

-random thought of the day: In case I don't update tomorrow, it's my 6 month anniversary in Sungei Gedong!-

Just like that, my slackest 2 or 3 weeks in sungei gedong are over. now that certain people are back in singapore, my quality of life could go down really quickly.

a few significant events happened this week. first is bunk shifting. now that the new block is completed, we (obviously) have to move in. spent monday night moving the bunk, and thursday moving the office. both are not easy tasks, trust me on that. the major change is that i'm sleeping on the third floor now, and with 6 other guys, instead of on the second floor with only 2 others. it'll take some getting used to, but it's nothing i haven't done before. as for the office, it's pretty much still no-man's land, seeing as we're not fully done with the organizing and all that. but my first impression is that it's a little too narrow, and the architect probably didn't plan carefully enough when designing it. still, i'll be there for most of the next year and a bit. better get used to it. the biggest drawback i have experienced so far is that it takes an extra 5 minutes to book out, since the new blocks are located even further back in the camp.

another event this week is range. since i passed my ATP earlier in the year, i didn't have to participate. lucky for the rest of the guys, since i think it would probably have rained all day if i went for the shoot. anyways, my job was mainly to plant myself at the ammo point and load magazines/oversee drawing of ammo/generally make myself useful. if there's one thing i took away from this range, it would be that there is a distinct difference between SSG and MSG. past experience from BMT shows that MSGs are generally nicer, even though they're higher ranking. odd but true. guess SSGs have to re-learn how to be nice in order to be eligible for promotion. moving back to the topic of range, the feedback was that this range was one of the worst that the unit has seen. only 1 out of 97 firers got marksman, which is really quite sad.

i'm really getting quite tired of office work. sometimes, i wish i could be thrown into a platoon. sure, the training may be tougher, but it wouldn't require thinking at all. just do, and if things screw up, it's becuase your superior is incompetent (assuming you follow the instruction exactly). but then again, being in the company HQ comes with some privileges which make life in camp more bearable. so...as usual, it boils down to pros of one vs. cons of the other. at present, i'm still pretty undecided on the issue. maybe something which will help me make up my mind will happen in the future. until then, i'll live with it.

i think i'll end off here for the time being, as i cannot really think of anything significant at this point of time.

-random thought of the day: Fridays off are good.-