Unlike previous years, i actually took some time (i.e. during my east coast walk) to plan out my year-end post this time round. in the process of doing that, i've found that it's better to separate the year into 2 categories: army, and the rest. but first, let's do a summary of the year.

to start off, i'd say that my theme for this year is "a year of lessons". having been in the army for the vast majority of the year (11 out of 12 months, to be exact), it's safe to say that my year has largely been very disciplined/regimental. *side note: some of the lessons i'm referring to were learnt (painfully) in the course of deviating from the regimentation.* these lessons i'm referring to include stuff like managing interpersonal relationships, taking care of yourself (in army-speak, covering your own ass), as well as the value of freedom, amongst many others. though some of these lessons weren't learnt easily (3 extras, anyone?), i'm sure that they'll be beneficial in the long run. on the "overall happiness" meter, i'd give 2008 a 3.5 to 4 upon 10 (army automatically deducts 5 points).

blast-from-the-past time! below are my new year resolutions for 2008, now updated to see how each has developed:

- ORD on time (no DB or anything to extend my stay in army) done

- ORD peacefully (partially linked to the above point) done to a large extent
- Sign a minimal number of extras (zero if possible, less than 10 as an upper limit) stayed within limits, but not zero
- Not spend my birthday in camp done
- Learn to drive i've started on theory, so half-done?
- Be more dependable/reliable ??
- Not spend money unnecessarily done, since i'm within my savings target
- Apply for (and get) a place in university done too!

well, the major, important things are in place, so i guess that's what really matters. i think i did a pretty good job, actually. but that's not really for me to decide, right?

the last part about my year in brief has to do with regrets. in this whole year, i don't really regret anything i've done, since no permanent damage has come out of it. however, there is one situation bugging me, because i think i let anger/annoyance cloud my judgement just a little. now that i'm looking back at it, i think it could definitely have been handled better. BUT...what's over is over, and like it or not, i handled it in that particular (read: not-so-good) way, and that way it shall stay. for the record, i do not intend to apologize to that person, and if (heaven forbid) i meet him again, things will be awkward for either him, or both of us. however, let's not dwell too much on that. how high would the odds have to be stacked against me for something like that to happen?

now, on to the army portion of my post. as mentioned earlier, army has taken a great chunk out of my year (and a tenth of my life, by the way). so, most of this year's major happening will be army-related. as you may know, people do get arrested for blogging about sensitive army stuff. therefore, i'm not going to venture into those waters. besides, i'm not even in the army any more! so, all i'll say is that even though army has helped me get into quite possibly the best shape of my life, i don't regret ORD-ing at all. not one bit. though i enjoyed myself (rarely) in army, and took away a great deal of knowledge, under no circumstance would i repeat it again. so, i guess that has helped me to discount "SAF regular" from my list of potential jobs.

the one thing that does bug me a little about the whole stay-in thing is that after spending only weekends (and the occasional weekday) out of camp, the distance between me and the rest of my family seems to have widened. of course, it could have worked the other way, but it didn't. this leads to a slight problem. certain people are ok when you see them once in a blue moon. but once you start living with them, they do tend to get on your nerves (in fairness, i could be on their nerves too). i guess in the end, it all boils down to adaptation (which is something i learnt was more or less forced to do in camp).

another thing is that some people have commented i've changed, and sometimes, these are not positive comments. thing is, i don't really detect these changes, because they happened gradually over a long period of time. so, it's not as obvious to me as it would be to, say, a JC schoolmate whom i've only just met again after graduation. if it could be arranged, i would perhaps want to meet with my 2006 self, partially to re-examine and rediscover him/me, and to reassure him/me that he'll/i'll make it out of army ok. wishful thinking, i know, but one can fantasize a little, right?

as for the other aspects of my life, things have been going reasonably well. i'm (or was, rather,) capable of earning enough to satisfy my wants...no. perhaps i should say i was capable of regulating/moderating my wants to suit my income. no big fall-outs with people back home (though some actions do annoy me pretty badly), and i've maintained an ok-ish friendship with most of my friends. so, i can't really complain much here, except to hope that a certain group of people i hang out with fairly regularly do realize it's less than delightful to be a walking figure 11.

to sum up my year, 2008 was, along with 2007, quite possibly one of the 2 worst years of my life. with that in mind, how can 2009 not be better?

-random thought of the day: My New Year post will be up sometime tomorrow.-

Christmas came and went without much incident this year. in fact, now that every day's a holiday for me, it was practically just another day. did get my christmas cards sent out in time, though i didn't send out as many as previous years. still, the tradition continues! ok, in an effort to get an early start one of my new year resolutions, i'll admit something. the reason not as many people received christmas cards from me this year is because (1) i started writing them late this year, and (2) i didn't send a card to those people whom i didn't have contact with for the year, and/or to those who do not acknowledge receipt of the card from previous years. as much as i hate to admit it (and as much as it makes me sound like a horrible friend), it's true. so oh well.

it's pretty difficult to believe that 2008's almost over. all that's left of it is another 3+ days. still have to head down to east coast to take my annual walk (which i have put off for a LONG time), and draft my year-end post. should be pretty easy to handle, provided nothing goes wrong.

paused and continued on Monday, 29 December 2008, 11:20pm

now that i'm at my cousin's place, achieving the above 2 goals should be much easier. i plan to make my east coast trip tomorrow, and use the time there to get inspiration for my writing.

i suppose one added benefit from staying here is that i'm a bit further away from home. weird as it sounds, i suppose my 2 years of only being home on weekends (and the occasional weekday) has perhaps driven some distance between me and the rest of the family. and that whole reorganization saga didn't really help much, either (i'm still rather annoyed, by the way). so, it's probably for the best that i get out of the house for a while. only immediate disadvantages i see now are that i forgot to bring my phone charger, and i can't use my nice new (well, not so new by now) computer. nothing i can't work around.

well, it's getting late, and i should go to sleep soon. don't want to waste a nice, relaxing shower, right?

-random thought of the day: I have to return my library books!-

2 years and 6 months is quite a long time. incidentally, that is also the length of time for which my blog template has not changed. that's why i'm retiring Hal Jordan and going for a lighter, more season-appropriate template. don't know how long this will be up, but it will definitely be replaced before 2 years.

doing this took me close to 3 hours. shows how out of touch i am. now that blogger allows changes to be reflected immediately, i couldn't even do this in the edit template window. had to do it in notepad (and preview countless times) then import it over in one shot. so far, it looks ok, but i'll be fixing any errors that may pop up in the near future. hopefully, people on 1024 X 768 resolution (if there are any at all) will only have to scroll vertically and not horizontally. scrolling in one dimension is already bad enough, let alone two. i'm on 1280 X 1024, so i'm actually guesstimating the width. the current design is pretty much up to my expectation, but i'm thinking of adding a script that puts text on the status bar. have to see how that goes.

in the process of redesigning a new template, i've also run through my links and deleted any blogs that haven't been updated for more than a year. however, this action has had the unfortunate consequence of reducing my links by half. guess i'll post on facebook asking for people with blogs to give me the URLs again.

i cannot believe that even now, certain people at home still do not realize that i do NOT like other people reorganizing my stuff. so what if it looks neater? at least i can find what i want in the mess. and it's not like i wasn't planning on tidying up anyway. it's just that it's low on my priority list, that's all. and besides, i was told to "take my time" doing it, and that there was "no rush". so technically, i could have done it next year, or even after graduating from university, and i'd still meet the deadline. what's worse is, it's MY room and MY workspace, so if anyone has to live with it, it's ME, and nobody else. so, i really don't see why anyone besides myself should be bothered about the mess. so far, one DVD case has been lost to the forces of kaypoh-ness, and i'm hoping nothing else goes along with it. have to do one more reorganization myself anyway, so (1) i'll find out if anything else is missing, and (2) that person wasted time trying to make everything look tidy, because i was going to do it anyway. in army terms, it's a rather kam gong matter actually, but it's succeeded in getting me more annoyed than i've ever been since ORD.

originally, i was way angrier than i am currently. i guess blogging and template designing took some of the fire away. right now, i'll probably log into CoH for a bit before going to sleep. hopefully something interesting's going on in there.

-random thought of the day: I've been smelling WD-40 all day...don't know why.-

After saturday's dinner, i'm more motivated/compelled than ever to insert some running (or exercise in general, really) regularly into my schedule. i feel less fit than 3 short weeks ago, and thats not very good. arrgh. probably should start by following my cousins to the gym or pool to work out. only slight problem is, they stay at the east side, so travelling's quite a pain. have to see how it goes i guess.

christmas is only less than 2 weeks away! the holiday spirit is finally creeping up on me. i did some of my christmas shopping earlier today, and christmas songs followed me wherever i went. there's one song i'm particularly fond of at this moment, and it's:

sadly, i can't find the version that i like the most (first heard it at a friend's place...the voice singing the song is deeper), but the one posted here is the one i've chosen after listening to about 8 different versions.

you know, after my grandfather's passing last year, i thought the soap opera that is my aunts' lives would end its run. unfortunately, i guess the genes did get passed down rather efficiently, since not only is the soap opera still running, the actresses have signed for a sequel too! the most recent story arc involves a severely vandalized/brutalized bougainvillea tree and dragon plant, and so far, it hasn't been resolved yet. it should be...interesting (for lack of a better word) to see how everything turns out.

sometimes, i wonder whether i'm being too nice. it's perfectly fine to be the butt of an occasional joke, but to suffer that fate every single time you meet up with your friends is bordering on "too much". i suppose i wouldn't mind so much if i was junior to them in age, but i'm not. oh well. i just hope it won't get to the point where i have to hurt relations.

in the course of my youtube browsing, i've chanced upon several videos of the animaniacs. it's quite the blast from the past, since i believe the cartoon stopped showing in singapore close to 10 years ago. it's mostly nonsensical, but there are a few clips with educational value, such as this one:

if you haven't guessed it yet, Wakko's my favourite (especially his accent!). too bad they don't have something which singaporean students would find relevant.

well, that'll do for now. trying to sleep early since there's bowling (and a special surprise!) planned for tomorrow.

-random thought of the day: Surprisingly, I'm still within budget!-

Quite a lot of interesting stuff has happened over the past few days. topping the list would have to be the set-up and functioning of my new computer (which i'm posting from, incidentally). i'm still working out some little issues, but they're mostly cosmetic/aesthetic and comfort-related. luckily, the major things, like connecting to the internet, copying CoH and other files over, as well as some other stuff, worked without any complications. it's a marked improvement over the older computer, only thing is that it's a little more exposed/open than the computer in my room, so it's easier for people to look over my shoulder as i'm typing/playing. oh well. plus side is that the TV is to my right, so i can turn over for a quick break whenever necessary. all in all, i'm quite satisfied/happy with it.

now that i'm out of the army, i guess it's time to change my phone. so far, i don't have the recommendations (or the money) to do it yet, but i'm keeping an eye and ear open. having a camera would be a nice bonus, so i can take photos of certain things of interest (like my computer!).

anyways, the nice show on TV's distracting me, so i'll stop here and update again after tomorrow's events have come to pass.

-random thought of the day: I need to clear up my army stuff!-

Strangely, the sense of relaxation and freedom i experienced after leaving camp for the last time didn't last as long as i'd thought it would. i guess that it's either due to one of the incidents that happened last friday (which i still have a bit of trouble putting behind me), or that the anticipation of getting my IC back was screwing around with my brain. but still, it's good to know that people from camp won't be calling you over little issues like computer matters or trivial stuff like that.

had a secondary school class gathering/reunion this past saturday. it was about time too, since the last time we met up was in november 2006, before enlistment. sadly, similar to last time, only about 10+ people out of the 20+ that we managed to contact showed up. nevertheless, we still had fun reminiscing about the old days, and catching up on everyone's current place in life. got to wave my IC around a little bit too as an added bonus. it's really amazing how much some of us have changed since 4 years ago, but it's good to know that everyone's still as friendly and nice as before, if not even more so. managed to get a few people interested in the saturday morning thing at turf city. with any luck, i'll be bringing some of them down this coming saturday.

one of the friends whom i met at the gathering (as well as earlier in the year when we were doing ops,) is a PTI in the army. i happened to mention to him that once i'm not in camp, i seem to lose the motivation/urge to go for runs, swims, or any sort of exercise in general. he told me not to see it as a chore, but rather to do it because i want to. i'm going to follow his advice on this one, since this is his area of expertise, but i think starting today may not be advisable since it's been rainy.

as one of my friends so aptly put it on facebook, today is such a good day to sleep. despite only waking up at 10:30am, i've been feeling lethargic and drowsy ever since then. must be the rain, and by extension, the monsoon season. it's been going at a light drizzle ever since...well, ever since i woke up, and i think that's why there's this sleepiness hanging in the air. i think i might just go for a run later after all. it's not too often you get drizzles light enough to enjoy running in. have to see how it goes.

one of the posts i made last week mentioned that i would be getting a new computer. turns out my original budget for it was $1800, which means that i've saved about $500 to $600 in the process of getting it. not too bad, considering that i'll need everything that i can save over the next few months since i'm no longer receiving money from the SAF. sadly, my tuition idea isn't really taking off either. will probably have to give it a bit more time, like until school reopens. guess nobody wants to think of studying when the holiday season's beginning.

the smell of smoke is strong in the air. not that surprising, since a chinese opera troupe (i think...otherwise it may be religious in nature; i don't know.) has come to perform underneath my block. they're burning offerings and other stuff, as is the norm in chinese custom. i'm not unfamiliar with the smell, only problem is that i associate it with temples. so, it's a little too close for comfort right now, considering i'm at home. gives me more incentive to get out and about i guess.

but, before anything else, i think i'm going to take advantage of the weather and take a short nap. haven't had the chance to enjoy sleepy weather for a while.

-random thought of the day: I have to submit my NUS form!-

LIBERATION!!!

it's been a long time coming, but i've finally reclaimed my IC. after looking at it for a while, i've made up my mind to change the photo there. i don't recall myself looking so round in sec 3. then again, we often have distorted perceptions of the things we can't see clearly, so oh well. who am i to say exactly how round i looked?

anyways, today has been great, except for 2 little dampeners. first is the nice S1 guys forgetting about/misplacing my testimonial. not too major a problem, since i've made arrangements for it to end up in my hands within the next week or so. the second matter is slightly more tua kee, but for confidentiality reasons, i'm not allowed to reveal anything about it, except that it's been settled too, and i caught a lucky break. most of it is my fault i guess, but there were motivating factors too. ah well. no use talking about it now that it's over. just have to accept the fact that it's already happened, and i've not suffered any permanent damage from it. get used to it, and move on.

it's been a pretty draining day, so i think i'll cut it here and go sleep. i'm going to need all my energy for the 2 major gatherings scheduled for tomorrow.

-random thought of the day: It's difficult to type on a MacBook!-

Turns out i didn't go for my dinner appointment after all, since i wasn't prepared to travel all the way down to kallang at 7:30pm (despite the temptation of long beach). it's tentatively pushed to wednesday, so i'll have to wait before i can find out what happened in india.

to continue on some of my unfinished threads of thought from earlier today, i received my university information package in the mail. basically, it's exactly what it says it is...information, and quite detailed stuff at that. i've done the online part, so what's left is for me to get my parents to read through and sign the form, and (horror of horrors) take a photo for my student card. now, if the above sentence didn't give it away already, i *HATE* taking photos of myself. will have to make it as painless as possible i suppose. oh...nearly forgot. at this point of time, i chose to start school in august, which is the regular term. chances of me enrolling in the special terms are quite low, but who knows? something may change my mind between now and 15 december, which is the final submission deadline.

since CoH servers went down for maintenance, i'm taking advantage of the free time to re-read my fanfiction and get a feeling for it, so i can pick up where i left off. after skimming through a few chapters, i'm quite tempted to delete the whole thing off the face of the planet. every three lines or so, i'm actually wondering 'did i really write that!?'. horrible. worst thing is, i left a plot element (a letter) unresolved when i left off, and now i can't remember what that letter's supposed to say! one thing's for sure though; it's nothing good. will probably have to try and remember my thought patterns/processes from 4 years ago and see what i can come up with.

*saved as a draft, and continued on thursday, 04 december at 9:53pm*

in another 10 hours or so, i'll step into camp for the very last time. 3+ hours after that, i'll reclaim something which i haven't seen for close to 2 years: my pink IC. after all the counting of months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds, agonizing over how slowly time passed, and generally not being the happoest person on earth, i'm finally so close to freedom! i wonder if i'll have any trouble sleeping tonight.

earlier on in march last year, i mentioned that if my POP present (a computer chair) cost $195, the price of my ORD present to myself would number in the thousands range. that prediction has sadly come to pass, seeing as i bought myself a new computer (!!). i've budgeted $1200 (or $1500, i forgot which) for it, and so far, i think i'm keeping within limits. i'll know for sure once i examine all the receipts. i just paid the bulk of it today, which is $950 for the CPU, and additional costs for other accessories. to date, that is my biggest NETS transaction to date, amounting to $1000 on the dot. felt a stab in my heart when i pressed 'OK'. but comforting thing is, this is all out of my own pocket, so score one for increased financial freedom.

at this point, my mind is clouded by the fact that tomorrow's my ORD, and also by the magnitude of my spending. i don't think i'll get another coherent thought in until the first is over, and the second has sunk in. so, i'll end off here, and continue when both have come to pass.

-random thought of the day: I need to spend all my emart credits tomorrow!-

It took me about 8 hours of reading (including staying up until 6+am and only sleeping when the words no longer made sense), but i finally finished Eragon book 3! it was quite an interesting read, with a few more unexpected revelations. i'm generally satisfied with it, except that for some odd reason, it is pretty difficult to remember the names/titles of people and locations, especially if they were carried over from previous books. for instance, "dragon rider" expressed in one of the languages is "shur'tugal". now, how often do you see this sort of punctuation mark in the middle of a word? another example..."dragon" is known as "skulblaka". quite an odd combination of letters for the english language, but i suppose it makes sense in other languages. after some thought, i decided not to discuss spoilers here, just in case someone reads this before reading the book and curses me to a watery grave. so oh well.

along with the book, i bought a couple of notebooks and some pens. figured i'd better be equipped for coaching and university life. thing is, i can't decide which notebook to assign to each task! arrgh. minor annoyance, actually. i figure it'll sort itself out.

in other more interesting news, my cousin's back from india! he said he was close to the hotel where the terrorist thing took place. in fact, the hotel was supposed to be one of his R&R destinations. lucky they heard about the news fast and detoured. anyways, i'll be meeting up with him for dinner later, so i'll probably get to hear more of what happened.

this post was supposed to be much longer, but i guess the mood just evaporated. so, i'll end off here and go settle some other stuff.

-random thought of the day: Time to open my NUS orientation package.-

Originally decided to update before going to sleep, but fatigue won out in the end. going to save this as a draft and continue in the later part of the morning.

after many hours of sleep, being in camp, and CoH...

turns out that i could not update before booking in as per my original intent. at this point of time, i've spent my last night in camp, finished signing all the clearance that i can possibly sign at this time, brought all my belongings home, and in general, prepared myself for ORD as much as possible. only thing left to do is finish up and send some emails/letters, backup some files, and i should be able to leave in peace.

now that i'm slacking at home most of the time, i've begun to watch late-night/early-morning TV quite a bit. in particular, i've become quite fascinated by various cooking shows, mythbusters, and miami ink. though i wouldn't dream of getting a tattoo in the near (and quite distant) future, there are no absolutes in life. so, i figure watching it is good background knowledge in case i get VERY drunk and decide to get one someday. besides, it's interesting watching the various people come in for tattoos and discovering their background stories and getting insights into their reasons for wanting the tattoos. quite a few people get tattoos to remember deceased friends or family members (someone even got one for her deceased horse). there are the more interesting stories, like an old lady who got a nice curly "A" done on her arm. her reason: if not now, then when? makes you wonder sometimes.

thought-provoking TV shows aside, i've also logged into my fanfiction.net account, which had previously been inactive for 4+ years (come on! how to write fanfiction in JC? you've got to be kidding.). looking back at my attempts to write something worth reading, i can't help but cringe a little every few lines or so, much like i do when i read my older blog posts again (and most likely what i'll be doing in the future when i re-read these posts). surprisingly, the stuff i've put up there have got quite a few positive reviews, and some of them are asking me when i'll continue. don't know if they've given up waiting yet, but i think i should have a new chapter out soon, provided i don't pull the rest down for editing, and also provided my background knowledge of the characters is as good as it was in 2004. worst case is, i'll start developing one of my original fiction ideas. there's no need for any background knowledge, since the characters are yours anyway.

briefly looking back at my posts for the entire year reveals that i have not been to east coast for my annual pilgrimage yet. and no, going to east coast for army activities doesn't count. i think i'll fit a trip in sometime in december, though i'm not sure what good it'll do me, since i think i can safely say that all of this year's major hurdles have been crossed already. oh well. planning for the future i guess. it'll probably do my heart/soul good to take some time off for a walk along the beach too.

well, i guess that'll do for this round of updating. will probably be going to popular later to get some stationery and other stuff (like Eragon book 3). think the fresh air will help to generate/develop new story ideas too.

-random thought of the day: I can feel my wallet self-destructing.-

Now that i'm on leave, i'm trying to increase the frequency of my updates. it doesn't show (yet), but i guess it will by the time i get my IC back.

all of a sudden, my to-do list has lengthened by about double. it's mainly because of the friend who i met in J8 last week (mentioned in my previous post). in our subsequent meet-up yesterday, we've talked about a wide variety of topics, including bowling, ice skating, tuition, mahjong, cycling, and other pretty random stuff. it was...interesting, to say the least. looks like my upcoming 8 months or so of slacking isn't going to be as boring as i'd thought.

went to thomson plaza yeaterday for 2 reasons. first was for the meet-up, second was to get a lightbulb for my lava lamp. background info: it's about 4 or 5 years old (!) and it was imported from the US. sad thing is, USA runs on 110 or 120V electricity (can't remember which) while singapore runs on 240V. so, if i plug it straight into the outlet, i'd get a short circuit, blown bulb, and if i'm reallly unlucky, a fire. so, i went to get a 240V-rated bulb for it instead. now, it just doesn't light up at all. the physics student in me is saying that it's probably because the wires and switches can't handle 240V, or the switch is spoilt, whereas the handyman/technician/guy in me says it's because either the new lightbulb's too small, or doesn't fit right, or simply because the plug's a weird shape which does not exactly fit the socket. confusing...definitely have it give it more thought. worst case is i'll get a transformer. it'll waste energy as heat at all that due to inefficiency (see? i do remember my physics!) but the therapeutic effect from watching the lava go up and down should offset/make up for that (now i'm bringing econs into the picture. go me!).

i suppose a side effect of not adhering to the army lifestyle is that my sleep routine is quite thoroughly screwed up. what's been happening for the past few days is that i've been sleeping at 4+ am (!) and waking up around 10 or 11+. definitely not that healthy, but oh well. at least i'm getting enough sleep to get by. will probably have to re-adapt just for ONE last working day.

speaking of which, my last working day is wednesday afternoon/thursday morning. kind of an odd choice, but i suppose it helps to maximize the chances of running into people for clearance signing. well, either way, i won't say anything as long as my last day is peaceful.

meanwhile, let's not cross that bridge until we get to it. to distract myself from army stuff, i'm going to watch madagascar 2 later! fun stuff. and to keep you all distracted, here's Bon Jovi's Livin' on A Prayer performed by the chipmunks (unfortunately, there's no video, but it does sound cute):

see you all when i get back!

-random thought of the day: I'm on a pretty tight budget due to unforseen costs. Sian.-

Pardon me for the lack of updates. spending a weekend in camp means no internet access for about 9 days, hence the short dry spell over here.

anyways, i'm beginning the process of clearing my leave, which results in me having very little working days all of a sudden. it's most definitely a good thing, but boredom does come into the picture sometimes. that's why i'm trying to keep myself occupied in various ways, be it a library trip, walking around J8, playing CoH, or simply blogging. kind of sucks that i'm still unable to put my post-ORD plans into action despite having all this free time. but as it says, "post-ORD". so, just have to wait i guess.

with any luck, this past weekend will be the last weekend i have to burn in my NSF life. my longer-than-usual stay in camp was mainly due to the fact that my comapny was on exercise from friday to monday. still have no clue about the results, though. rumours are widespread and quite contradictory sometimes, so no point speculating now.

yesterday, when walking around J8, i had a sort of weird feeling that i would see a particular friend somewhere. it wasn't too unprobable actually, since he's staying out. true enough, i ran into him outside the cinema. turns out he was on half day off. heh. talk about premonitions.

the next few days are (hopefully) going to be more interesting. have to go run a few errands later, and maybe drop by a friend's place. have to see how it goes i guess.

-random thought of the day: I can't believe I spent $100+ online!-

Deviation from my usual saturday routine is not something i do too often, but yesterday was special (sort of). had a talk at NUS in the morning (hence explaining my absence from turf city). met a few old secondary school and JC schoolmates/classmates there, along with the occasional army friend. quite scary to think that these people could potentially be in my tutorials/lectures next year, especially after we've seen each other so much in school/camp already. as for the talk, it was short but informative, and highlighted a few points about early matriculation which i hadn't thought about. having heard what they have to say, i think i'll most likely enroll for only one part of the special term, or choose to be ordinary and start the school year the same time with everyone else. i know it sounds crazy to even think of starting school early, but i suppose it would be good to, as the nice speaker said, "ease into school life again after 2 or more years of not studying." well, we'll see how the orientation package i'm supposed to receive at the end of the month influences my decision.

after the talk (and slacking at home a bit), i went to give my LAST tuition session. it was nothing out of the ordinary, except that i got a watch as a "thank you" present. wasn't expecting that at all. if there's one thing i feel regretful about, it's the loss of this particular source of income. oh well. at least one of my major sources of stress is gone, so i suppose it balances out. at any rate, i hope that i'll get good (or at least tolerable) news regarding the results next year.

to round off the day, i went to attend my cousin's son's (i.e. my nephew's) first-month celebration dinner. normally, i don't meet up with my dad's side of the family unless there is a wedding, funeral (touch wood), or unless it's chinese new year. so, it was kind of nice seeing all the cousins and assorted nephews and nieces that usually only appear when the moon is blue and the planets align. in the course of the dinner, i found that my cousin (whose son turned a month old), was in the same officer cadet course as my previous and current COs. i think this is, to date, the biggest coincidence i've experienced, be it in or out of army. heh. i wonder how my CO will react when i tell him? should be interesting.

ook...i've been on the computer for way too long. just let me wrap up. next week will definitely be the longest week i've had in sungei gedong since around march or so. reason being there's an exercise stretching across the weekend. better make sure i have enough uniforms and other stuff. on the bright side, i'll be booking out the following monday night/tuesday morning for my dental FFI, followed by 7 days of not being in camp due to off/leave/weekends. quite looking forward to it. but let's focus - exercise first, long long weekend later. but before the exercise, i figure i have time for a library trip now. see you all whenever!

-random thought of the day: After this week, I'll have less than 5 working days left!-

My oh my, what a week it has been.

this week has had me feeling angry, sad, excited, impatient, hopeful and a little embarrassed, all at different times. the negative feelings are mostly reserved for within the camp compound, while the rest is for outside camp. let's go into details:

even though i have only 5 (or 3 working) weeks left in camp, army life is becoming less and less bearable. it's mainly due to that certain someone's antics, which have levelled-up over the weeks. but that's not all. recently, other things have come into play. these other things are trivial compared to the major pain, but they're still rather depressing nonetheless. i just want to get out of army fast. is that really so hard?

the other (mostly positive) emotions are due to life after army. the only negative emotion attached to this is impatience, since i have to ORD first before i can execute any of these plans! the worst thing is, they sound so do-able and fun, and that's probably what's making the remainder of army seem like a drag. in fact, i'm highly anticipating 2 such plans, namely giving tuition and assistant coaching. the rough outlines have been drawn already, and we just have to smoothen the details out as we get closer to the start date.

in anticipation of my ORD, i've come up with a checklist of things i have to do before i can ORD in peace. it looks something like this:

1. Blood FFI

2. Dental FFI

3. Final FFI

4. Hand over all job scope

5. Write farewell emails to certain people

6. Clear all personal belongings from bunk and office

7. Sign clearance forms

8. Impart last words of wisdom

so far, i've done 1 and 4. i'm also midway through 2, 5, and 8. other than this, there isn't anything much left for me to do in camp, except to accept the odd arrow in preparation for the upcoming exercise (for which i'm thankfully not going outfield). oh well. 5 more weeks. definitely passable.

-random thought of the day: I'm getting really sian of army life.-

Life works in funny ways. just when i thought things couldn't get any worse in the office, they did. guess i forgot to factor in a very important variable, i.e. the other party's response. oh well. frankly, i'm not too worried abount any stunts being pulled or stuff like that, mainly because i'm more lao jiao than the other person, and also because i only have to put up with this nonsense for another 6 weeks. sounds good, doesn't it? 6 weeks to ORD. heh.

now that my army life is coming to an end, i'm starting to think of stuff to do next year. there's an NUS early matriculation briefing coming up 2 saturdays later, and i'm still considering whether to attend or not. it supposedly lets you start class early (in may as compared to august). at this point, i'm going for maximum slack time, but my thinking may change next year, when there is too much free time. i think i'll go for the briefing to clarify my doubts. after all, i don't think attending it means school will start early, right?

meanwhile, in the slack space between army and school (which will either be 5 or 8 months), i'm thinking of giving tuition and/or helping out as an assistant coach to earn $$. if there's one thing about NS i'm grateful for, it's the opportunity provided for you to earn your own money and become that much more financially independent. right now, i've done some calculations, and if everything goes according to plan, my tuition idea will be giving me slightly more than NSF officer pay per month. that's why at this point, i'm still finding the idea a little too good to be true. we'll have to see how it works out in the future.

i'm feeling a little listless now, main'y because nothing interesting's happening in my life at this moment. guess i'll log in to CoH and complete my halloween event.

-random thought of the day: Happy Deepavali!-

So, i'm 20. or rather, i've been 20 for about 2 days and a bit already. there isn't much difference, actually. the earth still spins, and life still goes on. turns out i didn't get totally drunk on the day itself, though i did drink a little bit as an yi si to mark the occasion. thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes through SMS, facebook, friendster, blog, and phone!

so, what else did i do? booked my basic theory for one thing. the earliest test date is in december, which is 1.5 months away(!). if the trend continues, i think my target of getting my license by march next year isn't too achievable. but who knows? i may get lucky and have someone give up his/her test date for me, just like my cousin (whom i am still a little envious of). oh well. have to play it by ear and make the necessary concessions in the new year resolutions list.

i don't know why, but i've been prone to bad moods recently. oddly though, the majority of it seems to happen in camp. could it be a new twist on the term "ORD mood"? who knows?

tomorrow's a day off, because i took leave on my birthday, which happened to be an off day. so i got a bonus day off. i'm thinking of going to run some errands, but things may change, depending on mood and weather. we'll see how it goes.

lastly, remember what i said about banning monster hunter in camp? it actually happened!

-random thought of the day: Some people in camp have discovered my blog. Oh noes.-

Right now, i am exactly 55 minutes away from turning 20. on one hand, i'm excited as this is another milestone in my life. yet, i can't help but feel a little old and kind of sad (some people i know would say "emo") that i'm hitting 20. quarter life crisis i guess. oh well. i'm going to stick to my original plan and get drunk (or at least not 100% sober) as the time comes. hopefully, i'll feel well enough to post about it tomorrow.

-random thought of the day: It's been a generally bad day today.-

Before i start on this week's post, here is something that i intended to do (but conveniently forgot about) for my first post in october:

WAAAAKE ME UP...WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS!!

now that that's out of my system, let's begin on the post.

oh my...what an interesting week it has been. things have finally come to a head in the office, and someone (FINALLY) realized he's not on my "most likable people" list. long story short, i hate his guts. to think that i have been trying to see the good in him, to give him the benefit of the doubt when he screwed up something important, and generally saying "give him a chance to prove himself" all the way from may till september. well, he's proved himself all right...to be a real pain in the neck, that is. in hokkien, i guess you could say that i'm chin-sim (literally: cold/chilly hearted) towards him now. still, it's fun to say "piece of scum" when he's in close proximity. juvenile, i know, but i frankly couldn't care less at this point of time. oh well. 2 more months and he'll be out of my hair. no point losing sleep over it (though sadly, it's happened already).

another interesting thing that happened this past week is my cousin getting his driving licence. now, i'm not going to lie. i am EXTREMELY envious/jealous of him, because he did something i'll never be able to do in this lifetime, that is, getting a driving licence before the 20th birthday. well, there is a slight chance for me to do that, provided i pass my basic theory, final theory and practical tests all within the next 4 days (by the way, at this point, i haven't even registered as a learner driver yet, so there goes that particular dream). to think i beat him at PSLE, O-levels and A-levels (i'm really only saying this to make myself feel better now), and he got this ONE major win over me. damn. oh well. one good thing is i now have a personal chauffeur when i really require one. heh.

tomorrow's the cat high annual dinner, and i'm not going. somehow, my leave plans didn't make it through the grinder. oh well. from what i understand, this year's turnout may not be as good as before. hopefully the quota's met.

despite only having 8 more weeks of NS (or 30 working days, to be exact(!)), i still haven't officially handed over any part of my job scope yet (so much for 1 september, huh?). since the LRI went pretty smoothly, and the higher-ups are (hopefully) in a good mood, i think i'll tactfully broach the subject with my superiors and see how it goes.

i believe that's all i have for now. too bad i have to spend my last few days of teenager-hood in camp. i guess all i can do is try to enjoy it. shouldn't be too hard i hope.

-random thought of the day: I'm motivated to get my licence!-

Can you believe that 3 whole days have passed since i booked out of camp on tuesday night? i can't. time has a nasty habit of accelerating when you're not doing things you don't want to do.

anyways, the past few days were nice and slack, like all rest days should be. played mahjong on wednesday, where another guy in our group did a shi-san yao. that's 3 of us now. that same guy ended up being the ultimate winner, taking away $75 in total (i.e. $25 from each person). kind of crazy, but oh well. you just can't stop some people when they're lucky.

yesterday and today were spent doing almost nothing productive. just gaming and stoning around. was originally supposed to go do some research on driving today, but waking up at 12:00pm sort of killed that idea. so, i guess that'll have to be postponed to next week.

something's been troubling me recently. it's about this particular person whom i've only come to know of this year. it's quite a complex problem, but i believe it'll pass soon. well, it'd better. if i have one more dream like the one i had on tuesday morning, i'd wash my eyes in acid or something equally drastic.

well, it's past 6:00pm. i think i shall head down to the library to return my books, and possibly borrow a few more.

-random thought of the day: Hopefully, I won't get activated over the weekend.-

Yesterday (at the time of writing this post), saturday 27 september 2008, was a historic day. that was the day where, for the first time in my life, i pulled off a shi-san yao! it probably doesn't sound like much to most people, but it personally means quite a bit to me, seeing as i've missed this particular boat quite a few times (more than i care to remember, actually). of course, the added benefit is that i'm only the second person in my group to do so. bragging rights, here i come! luckily today was one of my better days. made $40, which could cover my $20 loss last week. but covered for a friend (who i gamed 3 limit hands off of, poor guy; makes me feel guilty) and ended up with a tidy $30 profit. not too bad for 5 hours' work. i just hope my luck can be sustained through the upcoming weeks.

speaking of weeks, i can now officially say that i have less than a school term left in the army! 9+ more weeks to go, and i'll be a free man again. feels good saying that. adding on to leave and public holidays, i have an estimated 40 working days to go. everything's more or less handed over already, and all that's left is the formal acknowledgement and accounting for stuff before i can kick back and relax. i hear stories of how my ORD-ing friends have already handed their jobs over, and are nua-ing every day. lucky guys. oh well. it'll be my turn soon. patience.

carrying on from last week's post, i have to talk about heatwaves and the cat high dinner. the afternoon weather for the past 2 weeks has been quite a killer. i'm faced with a wall of heat the moment i step out of the office. just walking 300 metres to the cookhouse for meals can induce perspiration. good thing that it rained a few times this past week (compared to zero 2 weeks ago). if not, i think i'd just wither up and die.

about the cat high dinner, the original plan was to give it a miss. but due to some changes in circumstances, we may have to go down after all. i just hope that my leave gets through ok. worst case is i'll have to give it a miss.

right now, i think that's all i have to say. i may update again before booking in, and then again, i may not. who knows?

-random thought of the day: Time to go into CoH.-

Have to rush a bit, because i'm on a tight schedule.

the past week passed pretty quickly (thankfully), and we're into the latter half of september. nothing interesting happened in camp, except for even more office politics and a once-in-a-blue-moon early book out on friday. i seriously think we can turn what happens in the office into a soap opera. without mentioning any names, or ruining any reputations, all i can say is i'm grateful to be going off in 11 weeks' time.

in last week's post, i mentioned that nobody can have a perpetual winning streak. that remark has come back to bite me in the ass this week, seeing as i lost my entire drawer of chips (amounting to $50) in one round of mahjong. the worst part is, i didn't get bao-ed or anything. just normal playing. luckily, my friends were nice enough to give chance, and i managed to recover $35 out of the $55 that i lost. while i would have loved to make a full recovery, it was quite impossible at that time. so give and take i guess.

this coming week looks quite uneventful, except for range on thursday. hopefully nothing screws up this time round.

there are other things i had wanted to talk about, like the malfunctioning water supply, afternoon heatwaves, cat high dinner, and other assorted stuff. but, i find myself to be running short of time, so i'll end off here and elaborate on them the next week.

-random thought of the day: Monster Hunter should be banned in camp.-

Despite me taking half a day off on friday, this weekend still felt way shorter than normal. must be the theory of relativity at work i guess. this weekend was rather crazy, since mahjong was organized for 3 consecutive days. net outcome: lost a dollar. would have been lost $26, but someone was nice enough to cover for me yesterday since i bought lunch. now more than ever, i believe there's an almost magical/mystical air about the (or any, really) mahjong table. for instance, one superstition is that your luck will change if you set up for a shi-san yao but don't game on it. sadly, that happened to me. was a tile (jiu wan) away, but didn't manage to complete it. by the end of the game, my $12 lead (before i attempted that stunt) was reduced to a $25 loss. my bad luck continued today, but to a much lesser degree. managed to set up some good hands, though i couldn't cash in on 100% of them. guess nobody has a perpetual winning streak.

that aside, quite a lot of significant events fell within this past week. in chronological order, september 11, victor's 1-year anniversary, and the mid-autumn festival. first up, september 11. 7 years on, i personally have come to think of it as a typical day again. in fact, i wouldn't have remembered it if i didn't glance at my outlook calendar. i don't know how they're commemorating it in the US, though it may not be top priority with the hurricanes and all that.

next, it's been around a full year since victor's closed down. in fact, i believe today's the anniversary. not having victor's in my life for the past one year...honestly doesn't make that much of a difference, because i'm in the army and don't really have time for bowling. but i still feel sad that it's not there any more. well, at least i know where to find some of the old staff and the pro-shop owner (who incidentally, is cat high's bowling coach). so, it's not that bad i guess.

lastly, mid-autumn festival. i nearly let myself get away with typing "mooncake festival", but i've learnt that it's not just about the mooncakes. we had an informative history lesson on the festival's origins and stuff on saturday at turf city, so i'm able to appreciate it a little better. don't ask me to repeat it though; almost 3/4 of it has slipped out of my mind. luckily it's all recorded in an email for easy reference when the need arises. tonight's moon is supposed to be the roundest in the year, but clouds are obscuring my view. how to appreciate the moon like that!? i guess i can do it during the walk into my unit later tonight. sian.

ok, i'll leave it here. there are 5 more minutes until i have to go shower up, so might as well get an early start, right?

-random thought of the day:

Someone up in the sky appears to be having mood swings, because the weather's been fluctuating even worse than the stock market. just imagine - it can go from sunny to rainy, back to sunny, turn rainy again, and end off as sunny, all in the space of a day. it's probably wreaking havoc on everyone's immune systems, because there are quite a number of people falling sick these days. thanks to the environmental changes, global warming and whatever, it's become increasingly difficult to predict trends and weather patterns. hopefully people find a way to clear it up before it becomes too late...if it hasn't already, that is.

this past week in camp was not that tough, but not that slack either. had range, which i thankfully did not have to go for. apparently, this range surpassed last december's combat shoot to become the worst range in AETC history, seeing as a few people didn't even get to shoot. then again, many of the lanes were faulty, so i guess it's just good (or bad?) timing. for once, i understand what it's like to remain back in camp while the rest go for outfield combat training and whatnot. definitely not as easy or relaxed as i had imagined.

also, this week, we were made to do a very bo-liao, thousand-word essay which nobody had wanted to do in the first place. rather autocratic, extra, unnecessary, and generally time-wasting, but oh well. when the big ones give instructions, the tiny fish at the bottom obey.

going back to the usual saturday routine after missing out for one week felt good. mahjong is now more challenging, with the limit going up to 6 doubles, amongst other rule modifications. still managed to win $5 though.

ok...guess i'd better be going, there's tuition and a beach road trip tomorrow, so i definitely need to recharge.

-random thought of the day: I made a lot of typos while writng this...guess I'm too tired.-

With effect from this past weekend, i'm finally able to say that i have less than 100 absolute days left in army! it's definitely a great motivating factor, and it's doing wonders for my heart and spirit. all i want is for these 13+ weeks (or 90+ remaining days) to go smoothly.

sadly, that may not be the case. a call from camp today told me that some things which i was assigned to do were not done properly. they really know how to dampen the mood. problem is, i believe i did everything according to instructions. so...have to iron it out tomorrow. somehow, i get the feeling it'll be my fault anyway. it's not that i don't have confidence in whatever i've done, but past experience shows that when stuff like this happens, blame usually attaches itself to me. oh well.

this weekend has been pretty relaxing. no tuition and a slightly longer-than-normal time out of camp makes me a happy man. to tell the truth, i'm quite reluctant to book in tomorrow morning, especially since the left arm of my glasses is broken. up till now, i still have no idea how it happened. i was just sitting quietly at my computer when i heard/felt a small pop at the left side of my face. apparently, the spring gave way. have to get it fixed on friday, since they can't do it in time for my book-in tomorrow. meanwhile, superglue is the temporary fix. yay superglue.

guess i'll end off here then. maybe i should go read some books which i just borrowed today, or get on CoH for a while. or perhaps i should just call it an early night for once?

...nah.

-random thought of the day: My glasses are misaligned. Not good for my vision.-

Recently, words always seem to fail me when i open up blogger's "create post" window. today, i shall try to overcome this little block and produce something sensible, no matter how long it takes.

ok then...what's new? my last update was about 8 days ago, so that leaves quite a bit of ground to be covered. first up, army and its related activities. the past week in camp was...enlightening, for lack of a better word. finally got some political issues more-or-less resolved, and even better, i have a concrete date to look forward to - 1st september. that is the day i hand over the signal part of my job scope to the new spec.

aside from that, it's been a pretty typical week...except for booking in on saturday to sleep for the AHM. today's off balances/cancels that out, so i guess there isn't much to say. speaking of AHM, it was held yesterday, and this year was the first time i went down (i couldn't make it last year due to some...inconveniences). didn't get to run the 21km due to some PES status-related issues, so what i essentially did was look after bags and provide the runners with bananas. it wasn't completely a waste of time, since i met some friends who have been posted to different units, including one of my seniors. did a little catching up after the event, and then headed off to give tuition.

my student is really not giving me much hope. i can't believe she's going to take her exam in about 2+ months' time. from the questions she asks, i'd expect her to be in the middle of J1, and not at end-J2. i suppose it's partially my fault too, since my teaching methods don't seem to be working. if she was, well, not female and not a family friend, i'd have screamed (loudly) at her for not knowing what she needs to. but that approach wouldn't improve anything, except maybe to make me a little less angry. so...we'll see how it goes i guess. i definitely have to have a post-prelim review with her and possibly her parents.

right now, i'm feeling a little screwed up. not emotionally, but mentally and physically. it's actually largely due to the fact that i was up at 3am on sunday morning in order to get to the padang by 5:30. add that on to the fact that i didn't get any sleep until 22 hours later, and the result is my sleep cycle being totally screwed up. even now, my eyes still feel heavy. but i guess that could be attributed to the glare from the monitor too. another contributing factor is that i've caught a slight cold/flu due to the recent cold weather and being momentarily exposed to the rain while waiting for the AHM to begin. i know how weak this makes me sound, but well, it's true, so no point pretending it isn't.

next week is quite bad for the morale, since we're booking out on saturday. still unsure whether it'll be in the morning or afternoon, but the fact that it's SATURDAY already dampens the spirits. prior to this, i think my last saturday book-out was...last year? so yes. at least the following monday will be an off-in-lieu too. that's some consolation.

so far, it's taken about an hour and 15 minutes to come up with this block of text. hopefully thoughts flow better the next time i blog. guess it's time for me to head into CoH for a bit, and if there's time, i'll drop by the library too.

-random thought of the day: Macadamia nuts are good!-

Just thought i'd blog a bit, simply because i can.

the week has passed pretty quickly. now that my company has a new signal spec (well, he's been with us for 2 weeks already), i find my job scope shrinking. i suppose it's about time i started handing over my stuff and passing on my knowledge, because with only 15 weeks to go, it's high time i slackened a little bit. furthermore, i can't go outfield any longer, so i have to make sure he knows what to do when he's out there and i'm not. well, he could always call me from outfield, but that wouldn't leave a good impression with the higher-ups, would it? at any rate, i do feel a sense of bonding/kinship with him, since he is (like me,) the only person from his course to be posted into my particular unit. so, i can sort of understand the kind of lost feeling a person gets when he comes to the unit, especially when your course doesn't fully prepare you for your actual job scope in the unit.

the olympics have been going on for about 9 days now, and i've only been keeping up with the more sensational news, like michael phelps and his insane 7 (8? or did he hit 9?) medals. of course, there is the great news about singapore's first medal since 1960. personally, i find it to be rather over-hyped. i understand national pride and all that, but am i the only one who sees irony in this? singapore's first olympic medal in 48 years, won by a person/people who weren't born in singapore. it just seems...odd to me. then again, it's that whole foreign talent debate thing. i have no issue with singapore winning a medal, but i just wish it was one of our local athletes who had won it, instead of the imported talent.

there's a scene in The Dark Knight where Two-Face makes James Gordon reassure his son that everything will be all right, even though he has a gun pointed at his head (confused? go watch the movie). today, during the little chat i had with my student and her mother after tuition, i think i momentarily experienced what Gordon felt at that moment. given her standard, i'd be extremely happy if she passed. given her knowledge, ability, hardworkingness, tendency to make careless mistakes, tendency to misread/not answer directly to the question, and the probability of the school setting a tough paper, not to mention a possible lack of sleep the night before, i'd say a pass hangs delicately in the balance. it's possible if the planets align, she gets sufficient sleep the night before, can retain everything she's studied, and is energized throughout the paper. hoping that the school set an easy paper wouldn't hurt her odds either. anyhow, i'm prepared to accept any outcome. so i should stop stressing about it.

next week actually looks pretty manageable, have to finish teaching the new spec and do up some other office stuff. only thing is that the weekend's activities will require some reshuffling, due to the AHM. oh well. we'll see how it goes.

-random thought of the day: I didn't return my books today. Have to do it soon.-

The book-in blues have finally kicked in, and i'm not feeling too happy as a result. right now, i still have approximately an hour to an hour and a half before i shower, pack my stuff and leave the house. luckily i checked my phone, because there was an SMS which informed me that today's transport was cancelled. this means that i have to leave the house slightly earlier than usual. to think i was contemplating logging in to CoH for a little bit. as you've probably guessed by now, that won't happen tonight.

you know, it's kind of scary. how did my remaining time in NS become only 16 weeks? that's like the duration of a BMT and less than half of a signal course. wish i could go back to tekong though. it's actually quite a fun place to be in, if you don't mind being the lowest life-form there, that is. at any rate, i'm sure that time would pass faster there than it does in my unit. well, either way, it's 16 more book-outs (assuming no extras or whatever). i'm hoping time will pass a little more quickly. meanwhile, just tong.

these days, it's kind of rare for me to specially set some time aside, sit down and do some blogging. so i'd better treasure this opportunity. actually, there's not much to be said. the most exciting thing happening in my life now is probably being tekan-ed in camp. guess i really should get out more. haven't gome on a retail therapy session in a long time. but i believe that's for the best, since i already have my budget for the entire year planned out. oh well. bitter first, sweet later.

it's close to 8pm, which leaves me with about 45 minutes of free time. i don't really know what else to say now, because as i've mentioned before, my life isn't exactly the most happening. so, i guess i'll wrap up here and enjoy my last few minutes of freedom before another week in camp.

It's nice to get a long weekend once in a while. the existence of this particular long weekend, is of course, due to singapore celebrating national day. unlike previous years, this naional day was pretty painless and in fact, i'd go so far as to say i enjoyed it. didn't catch the parade though, since i was out of the house (and without TV access) at that time. don't think i missed much though, since i have never been in the habit of watching NDPs.

since there was a long weekend (and it was pay day yesterday), i went to do some shopping for in-camp essentials, like toothpaste and some other stuff. also went to the library and finally borrowed a few books. they're mostly comics, and i've finished all 4 already. looks like i have to make a second trip later today, but only if time permits.

right now, it's 2:10pm, and i've been up for about 6 to 7 hours already. guess i'll pop into CoH and work on a few badges.

-random thought of the day: Nothing on my mind at the moment.-

Previously, i posted about getting a new macbook. well, today's the first time i'm firing it up to try it out. it's been quite a culture shock so far, considering i'm a windows kid by training. so, i'm just stumbling around, trying to get used to all the different stuff and making some sense out of it. guess i can take my time though; i have until uni begins to figure all the little details out. better get going now...there's tuition in the morning at 9am. definitely inadvisable to be late.

-random thought of the day: I want to watch Olympic Judo!-

Before i begin this post, i'd like to say that the next few (potentially nasty) lines are directed at a person whom i have great respect for. it's just that for some reason, he's done a few things that have annoyed practically everyone in my company. things like area cleaning in SBO, messing with book-out timings, shouting over tiny little things, and generally being a hundred times more guai-lan than usual. i mean, i was just quietly laminating some stuff in his office, and i get hit with a grenade the moment he steps in. it's really quite uncalled for, and a huge deviation from his normal behaviour. i don't know what he's playing at, nor do i want to find out. i just hope the situation in camp improves soon.

as you may have guessed by now, this week was one of the worse ones i've had in camp. in fact, i think it was the worst week i've had in about 2 to 3 months. but it's over and done with, and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. we'll survive.

nature seems to have a funny way of balancing the good and bad bits in life. maybe i'm saying this just because the contrast is too obvious in my case. you see, after the horrible time in camp, i did pretty well at mahjong (one colour pong-pong game...i think it was my nicest hand to date. still lost $3 though), and on top of that, my aunt was at some computer sale/promotion thingy and bought 3 macbooks. 2 for my cousins, and 1 for me. it was a classic "WTF!??" moment when i heard the news. though i would have very much preferred a gaming-quality laptop that ran on windows, i'm not exactly complaining about this either. i'll probably try it out tomorrow though; i'm a little wiped-out today. better get some sleep, since i have to give tuition at 9am.

-random thought of the day: I need to call Starhub about my router.-

For the first time in almost 3 months, i had a completely stress-free weekend. it's mainly because my student couldn't make it for tuition (for both yesterday's and today's sessions), so i had some extra time to myself over the past 2 days. i suppose it's a good thing, since i have to leave for camp in about an hour's time. yes, you read that right. i have to be at company line at 7pm, which means i'll be changed and out of the house by 6:10 latest. luckily, this only happens once in a while, and it's because there's live firing going on tomorrow (i think). guess the moon's been really blue recently.

friday was spent at east coast again. we were organizing the healthy lifestyle run, and just because we were organizing it, we arrived there at 2:00am to set stuff up. faced some lack of sleep issues, but it was nothing major. if i'm reading my body's feedback right, i've probably got over it by now. so...yes. nothing too special for the run. after falling out (and showering and some other mundane stuff), i went to meet my cousin to watch The Dark Knight. i really liked the movie (which had the usual good quotes and occasional humour thrown in), especially the villains. both Joker and Two-Face looked really different from their traditional cartoon and previous movie incarnations. Two-Face's origins seemed more believable in the movie than in the comics. i mean, how can a guy splash acid on exactly half of your face?

back to the mini-review...the actors really played their parts well too. if i didn't know it a long time ago, i would swear that there was no way Bruce Wayne and Batman could be the same person. but then again, that's good acting i guess. the Joker actually reminded me a little of that clown dummy/dummy clown from the Saw series, and it wasn't just because of the face paint. he was that creepy i guess. anyway, it was good entertainment. only little issue was that perhaps it was just a bit too long. then again, it would be difficult to squeeze all that content into anything shorter, so i guess it was unavoidable. don't think i'd want to watch it again though. it's no fun when the Joker becomes predictable. the psychological roller-coaster effect's gone when that happens. i'd highly recommend this movie, but i'd advise to just watch it once.

following that, saturday was pretty normal. met a junior at the turf city gathering. well, not exactly at the gathering, since he followed our transport down, but you get the idea. i was quite surprised to hear that he was the one who approached my coach and asked to come along. but well, it's a good start. more young faces showing up these days. then had the usual mahjong (won $10! FINALLY! then again, there was a new bird at the table, so results may not stand) and crashed over at my friend's place. tried my hand at Ninja Gaiden 2, which i like, as well as Conan, which i like significantly less (though the gore is nice). right now, it just sucks that i'm stuck at a boss in Ninja Gaiden, and i only have ONE healing item. did i mention it's the weakest one too? oh well. i'll try again next week i guess. worst case i can restart. i've only put less than 3 hours into it, so it's not that great a loss just yet.

playing Ninja Gaiden has made me wonder if ninjas from the good old feudal days really could run up and along walls, hang on to pipes without ever losing grip and stay underwater for what seems like forever. one of the books i read before says they used all sorts of gadgets and tricks to achieve these impossible stunts, but they must have been really smart to do so. makes me wish i knew some of their secrets. heh. would sure help in avoiding arrows.

anyways, it's getting late (for me anyway, looking at my schedule). better pack up and get ready. can't afford to be late, right?

-random thought of the day: I have to visit RJC and SCGS soon.-

Double XP weekend began on friday night, and is expected to last until monday night. by right, i'm supposed to be on CoH right now, running missions and earning money. yet, i find myself in my cousin's house, blogging about how i should be spending my weekend. well, at least i'm here for a good reason, because i just gave tuition last night and this morning. my plan to install CoH on one of the computers here has more or less flopped, due to the fact that the computer is even slower than the one i'm using at home. don't even get me started on how badly fragmented the hard drive was. i knew it was a lost battle when the defragmenter showed more red than blue. so, i'm missing out on some good experience and money. oh well. slight consolation is that freedom server (i.e. my home server and the most populated one) is full and everyone else not already inside it is locked out. either way, i wouldn't have been able to play.

games aside, i think i'm falling sick. it's the typical cough and sore throat combination; only really worrying thing is the blood that sometimes gets coughed up. oddly enough, the blood only shows up in the early morning. otherwise it's just green for the rest of the day. normally, it only lasts for day or two, but i'm guessing the cold showers in camp are prolonging this particular bout of illness. well, guess i'll wait till evening to see if it clears up.

right now, it's 2+pm. have to go visit a relative at 3, and hopefully by the time i'm home, freedom will be unlocked already.

-random thought of the day: Luck has not been with me these past few days.-

Even though it is already slightly past 9:15pm, i am completely unprepared to book in. now, before "AWOL" comes to mind, i must clarify that it's because we were given the liberty of booking in tomorrow morning. it's a nice change to not be rushing for time on a sunday night, and not feeling the book-in blues (just yet). incidentally, this is the first time in about a year i have stayed out on a sunday (discounting stuff like off-in-lieu, leave etc.).

this weekend was one of my happier weekends in recent memory (except for a slight dampener, which i'll talk about later). saturday was the standard routine of turf city and mahjong. lost $6, which is kind of wasted, since i could have prevented it. in fact, i think i should let everyone know what happened, so the full extent of the wasted-ness can be seen and appreciated.

*people who are unfamiliar with mahjong may want to skip the next paragraph.*

i had 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of the same suit left in my hand. naturally, the first impression is that i'm waiting for 4 and 7 to game. but after some rearrangement, i realized i was also waiting for 2, 5, and 8 concurrently. sadly, i only found this out after the 2 had been thrown, and it was too late to declare that i wanted it. and someone else gamed a small hand on another tile (thankfully not thrown by me). so, that's a one-colour limit hand (inclusive of flowers) gone down the drain, which translates to a profit loss of $9.60 (excluding payment for the small hand). could have come out slightly on top too, if i had cashed in on this one. but oh well. it was one of the more interesting hands that i've been able to build in the past few months. calling/waiting for 5 different tiles is quite rare, but not unheard of i guess, especially when the maximum numbers can go up to 9, or as high as 13.

so, conclusion? must sharpen my mental reflexes a bit more.

now that that's off my chest, i can move on to other stuff, like tuition. i'm going to be honest here. this week's lesson was my deciding one, on whether i would give up the tuition assignment or not. i don't know whether it was pure luck, or whether the student could read my emotions/thoughts/body language, but today's lesson was (in my opinion), the best one i've had so far. ideas seemed to flow better, and i didn't have to repeat myself that often. i just hope she really understands what i've been trying to put across. had a talk with her mother after the tuition session, and i'm really grateful (not to mention happy, heartened, motivated, encouraged, etc.) that she's so supportive and understanding. the little chat we had gave me the confidence to promise her that i would stick with it all the way, not give up, and try to guarantee a pass, if not better. i know "try to guarantee" is kind of contradictory, but i'm still searching in my magical bottomless top hat for the miracle that i have to pull out to 100% ensure a pass minimum. i think i finally realized the importance of parental support, especially from a teacher's point of view.

i'm a little distressed right now. well, i've been quite distressed for the past 2 days, but let's not bring back bad memories. it's mainly because in the past week, no less than 3 people have remarked that i've gained weight after not seeing me for a month or so. i strongly believe that this started during the ops period, where there was a reduction in frequency of physical training. oh noes! better start running more in camp.

well, it's raining now, which i'm guessing is a sign for me to turn in early. then again, who in their right mind would sleep before 11pm on a weekend? i'm thinking of logging back into CoH for a while, though i doubt anyone will be online, given that there's school/work tomorrow. we'll see how it goes, and when my eyes start to close.

-random thought of the day: I have a plastic watermelon!-

Time in camp has accelerated to a more or less bearable pace, and i'm grateful for that.

my previous post talked about outfield and east coast. well, not everything turned out the way i thought it would. for one, i didn't have to go outfield since i'm no longer a combatant (more on that later). and i didn't even have to run today at east coast, partially due to the same reason. so essentially, today was pretty much a waste of time. at least i reached home by 11+am, and had a little afternoon nap to recharge.

now, about the part about me no longer being a combatant. remember i got downgraded sometime in may or june? well, it was to a non-combat PES. as such, from this month on, i'll be getting $100 less from the SAF. not only that, they deducted the pro-rated combat allowance from last month. so, result is i'm receiving VERY little this month (think slightly more than recruit pay). but it'll balance out again next month i guess. maybe i should push for my promotion. $30 more never hurt. on the bright side, that means no more SOC, IPPT or outfield. worthwhile trade? i don't know. probably i guess.

in case i haven't mentioned this before, along with the downgrade came a revocation. which means i'm officially no longer the company signaller. but unofficially, i'm still handling some (well, most, if not all) of the stuff until i can show my understudy the ropes and make him comfortable with everything he needs to do. speaking of which, i do need to come up with a list of stuff to teach him and the scheduled deadlines.

"power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" i first read about this quote in the spider-man 2 novelization (a cookie if you know who came up with the quote). right now in camp, i'm beginning to see that it does make sense.

it's already close to 2am (blame CoH for that), and i have to be up at 7 tomorrow morning. better go get some sleep.

-random thought of the day: Still haven't gone to the library...-

I had planned to head down to the library sometime today to borrow some books to bring into camp. sadly, that plan doesn't look like it'll materialize, since it's already 8:40pm. oh well. it's not like i'd have time to read anyway, given the coming week's schedule.

my tuition session this morning didn't go quite according to plan. now more than ever, i'm thinking of dropping this assignment. attractive as the money is, the stress and frustration just isn't worth it. i don't really consider myself that demanding; all i asked for were proper definitions (in sentence form) of partial pressure and dalton's law. and one week later, i didn't even get that. and don't even get me started on the organic chem outlines that were due months ago (and have not been handed up yet). i don't know whether it's lack of effort or genuine inability on the student's part, or if i'm just cui as a teacher. one way or another, i'll make my decision whether to continue or not by the end of this month.

mahjong was originally scheduled for today, but got cancelled as someone couldn't make it. so, my day was spent on CoH, where my new character has hit level 15 (or was it 16?), gaining 11 (or 12) levels in slightly more than 5 hours. quite an achievement, if i do say so myself, especially considering the fact that he's about 2 days old.

yesterday was cat high's homecoming day. unlike last year, i didn't have the motivation to go down, and besides, it was raining. anyways, i seem to recall someone mentioning that this year's event was less successful than last year's. so maybe it's better i stayed home?

ok...last thing on my mind before i go for a shower and pack my stuff for book-in. next week's schedule is kind of screwed up, with an outfield exercise (3 days 2 nights or 2 days 1 night?) and a 14km (or 16km?) run at east coast. on the bright side though, friday's a half day. so i'll have more time to relax and recharge. right now, it's close to 9:15, which means i'm cutting my time really fine here. guess i'd better go now.

-random thought of the day: In a rush now.-

Since i didn't blog last week, i'll do a (slightly) longer post this time round to make up.

Last week

it was the first time in my life i caught 2 movies in 3 days. went to watch kung-fu panda on friday after book-out, and zohan on sunday before book-in. both movies were good, though i think i liked panda better for the jokes and educational message. zohan, on the other hand, was typical adam sandler stuff. funny, slightly educational, but mainly good for laughs only. i guess the main reason why i was crazy enough to watch 2 movies so close together (and burn $20 in the process) was because that particular week seemed to drag on forever. probably needed to destress.

as i mentioned on facebook and in a previous post, the new alpha company just came in. reminds me of the time when my guys just came in too. a bit blur blur, a bit scared, and totally clueless about life in the unit. i mean, their posting order told then to just bring a set of PT attire for their first day, resulting in everyone getting a free night off to collect their stuff. unfair. anyways, i suppose they should have acclimatized by now.

ok...i'm due for a mahjong appointment, so i'll save this as a draft and continue about this past week when i get back tonight.

*4 hours of mahjong, 3 hours of shopping and another 3 hours of CoH later...*

This week

time seemed to pass faster than the week before, which i am thankful for. ran and ran, and observed SAF day too. not many highlights this week, except that my CO is now wearing 2 crabs, and someone in the company made a very serious (in my opinion) wrong move that managed to piss yours truly off to a very large extent. it's only 5 months more. 5 tiny little months and he'll be out of my hair. bear with it. oh. we had chemical defence too. did all the "gas! gas! gas!" stuff again, but thankfully, we stayed out of the chamber. kind of rusty after not doing it for a year, but i think we all survived the worst of it.

after chemical defence, we were screwed over for "slow movement". i don't know about how the rest feel, but someone has been getting on my nerves ever since he took on his new appointment. oh well. it'll all pass eventually. no point getting angry over it right?

Present

it's close to 11:20pm, and i'm due to give tuition at 9am tomorrow. guess i'll head off then. probably will blog tomorrow, but then again, who knows?

-random thought of the day: Feeling sleepy...-

About a year ago (1 year - 2 days, to be precise), i was blogging about the new trainees who would come in and form my company. today, 364 days later, those trainees are now old birds and preparing to welcome the next generation of trainees. makes me feel...well, happy, because it's another reminder of how close i am to finishing my term in NS.

last june, i had also treated myself to a movie for hitting the 6-month mark in SAF (i seem to recall it was pirates of the caribbean 3). i had planned to do the same today, but i ended up staying at home due to unforeseen circumstances (eg. too lazy to go out, no money in wallet). so...that'll probably happen next week, when the income from tuition comes in.

speaking of tuition, i'm really starting to panic. my student just doesn't seem to have the right mindset for tackling chem. it's ok if she's horrible at/with (?) the subject, but i'm annoyed because she's giving up on herself. well, that's the impression i'm getting anyway. i mean, i explain something (THRICE), and she says "i don't know" when i ask her about it again 5 minutes later. i believe my explanation is as simple as i can make it, because i don't use any jargon or terminology except when absolutely necessary. so...how to handle this situation? to be honest, she's got the odds stacked up pretty high against her favour. and given the way things are, i am not too confident that she'll even pass, let alone get an A. hopefully the book which my friend lent her will change her perception of chem and the a-levels in general.

funny thing happened yesterday. i woke up at 7+ as usual for the weekly turf city gathering. on the way to turf city, i started sneezing. it developed into a running nose by the time we left, and i was sneezing so much my throat was sore. made it through tuition thanks to flu panadol and some vicks thing. today, the sneezing's stopped, nose is more or less clear, but throat's still feeling a little raw. quite odd, actually. usually, when this happens to me, it'll last for about 2 to 3 days. not that i'm complaining about the length this particular cold though. if anything, i wish it didn't happen at all.

friday's stay in camp brought some interesting news. apparently, CO has given the green light for stay-in personnel to book in on monday mornings, subject to training requirements. this means that my sundays will no longer be filled with depression and dread, and that i can spend a few more hours on CoH, mahjong, TV, or anything as required. pity that it will only kick in next week, due to some of the aforementioned training requirements taking place this coming week. friday's live day wasn't so much of a live day as it was a run-cum-safety seminar day. well, hopefully this is a one-off thing, and future live days are conducted out of camp again.

oh. we got a new car! the old one was giving some problems (like squeaking when starting up...some air-con problem), and it was time to scrap it anyway (i think). the new car is blue, and the license plate number is 9688. it supposedly has some lucky connotation in chinese/dialect, but i still liked the old number better, because it was the date of issue of my pink IC. so far, i have no complaints about it, and in fact, i do find it comfortable. it even has electrically-powered seat adjustors! forgive me if i sound mountain-turtle about it, but it was really the first time i've seen it inside a car. i think it's going to be a fun vehicle, especially when i figure the audio system out, and even more so when i can finally drive.

well, that's about all i have to say for now. going to log in to CoH for a bit and pack my stuff later. i'll be out on friday night if nothing goes wrong. it's actually quite unlikely, because someone's in south africa, and the important figures' attention will be on the new company, allowing me to slip under the radar for the next 5 days.

-random thought of the day: Still need to check up on driving.-

Like i mentioned a few posts ago, i'm on my forced 2-day block leave now. well, one and a half days have passed so far, which leaves me another half day to go.

so, what have i been doing for the past 3 days? answer: nothing much. for some reason or another, this 2-day work week was pretty relaxed. it's probably because there will be a company size of new trainees coming in next week. i really really hope none of my friends/juniors is posted to my unit. could be traumatizing both for me and them.

ok...there really isn't much to talk about at this point of time, except to say that i'm planning to catch a movie later on. 4 candidates come to mind: kung fu panda, hulk. get smart, and you don't mess with the zohan. decisions, decisions. maybe i'll watch more than one?

-random thought of the day: I just found out Friday is a full day in camp.-

Continuing from my previous (excuse of a) post, palm trees have taken up residence in the area around my block. this is slightly disorienting, as they are not native to this area, and haven't been for the past 19+ years. in addition to that, lots of the things i've grown up with and come to think of as permanent fixtures are suddenly not so permanent now. i mean, there's only 1 flight of stairs today still made out of purple bricks, as compared with 4 in 2006. the playground is being upgraded, for the second time in the 19+ years i've lived here. by the time i'm 30, i think even more drastic changes would have taken place.

as i was walking home from giving tuition today, i saw that in order to make room for those palm trees to grow, some of the existing trees' branches had been cut off. this, in turn, got me thinking about the old making way for the new. i suppose it's part of the natural cycle and all, but it seems somehow...disrespectful, in an odd sort of way. maybe i'm just too attached to the old trees, or older/more senior things in general.

driving has appeared on my new year's resolution list for the past 3 years running, which means that i haven't been able to learn it yet. i get the feeling that my original goal of getting my license before i turn 20 is pretty much shot. oh well. there's always before 21.

the slack sunday has left me feeling pretty recharged. still can't help but feel that i left out a few essential points to blog about. maybe i should start writing them down while in camp. should help me to remember better.

anyways, it's about 8:50 already. have to book in later, so CoH now is out of the question. in fact, i have to be off the computer by 9:05 latest to shower and pack my stuff. so, i guess i'll end my post here.

see you all on tuesday!

Normally, i would be out and about on a sunday, but i decided to take it easy for a change, and stay home.

i have a nagging suspicion that i've been living in a time warp, or at least a time bubble, where everything slows down to 10% speed. i could have sworn that i 'd been in camp for longer than a week, and yet, the calendar proves me wrong. at any rate, my work year is nearing the halfway mark, and that's definitely a good thing. incidentally, the actual halfway mark falls on this coming wednesday, at 12:00pm. guess i should go celebrate, since i've been forced to take leave on that day and on thursday as well. totally screwed up my leave plans.

now on to some non-army related topics, like tuition. i'm not sure if i'm doing a good job or not. from the way i see it, signs point to no. i just wish there was a way i could upload my brainwaves and thought patterns on the internet, so that my student can get a better idea of how i think and use all the knowledge in my head during exams. i'm actually quite discouraged after today's session, but well, i hope that one of my friends can help motivate the person in question.

somehow, i'm not really in a blogging mood now. i'll probably update again later, with a proper post.

-random thought of the day: Palm trees in my neighbourhood?-

My week has been pretty normal so far...whatever "normal" means to me.

nothing that remarkable happened except that some of the specs from my company ORD-ed today. that makes it wave 2 of ORD personnel. i still have to sit through another 3 waves before it's my turn. oh well. not to worry; it'll happen soon. i'm actually quite sad to see these guys go, because they were with me from the start of my time in the unit, so i've become accustomed to seeing them around. but that'll have to change. at least they promised to keep in touch.

i think i've been repaying my accumulated sleep debt while in camp. every day, i'll fall asleep at 9+ and wake up at 5+ (which is the standard waking-up time). that equates to 8 hours of sleep, which is definitely more than what i've been getting for the past fortnight prior to resuming normal camp life. the weird dreams (and subsequent inability to recall them) haven't stopped though. i also forgot one song which i thought was perfect to dedicate to the ORD-ed specs. the annoying thing is that i was listening to it on my MP3 player yesterday before sleeping, and i just can't recall it today, when i most needed to.

this week has also left me feeling rather sore. physically, that is. i'm sure i've mentioned how little exercise i'm getting while on ops, and running 5.6km is a very good reminder of that. just imagine running that twice (on different days, of course). my fitness levels have dropped far more than i'd thought, and it's not good for health at all. better do something about it...as soon as the aches go away.

well, tomorrow's a saturday, and that means turf city again. with either mahjong or wii after that. probably should go for the latter. wii sports may help to work out the soreness.

-random thought of the day: Dinner appointment tomorrow. How to keep fit?-