In a rather uncharacteristic move, i actually agreed to go drinking/clubbing with a few army friends. ironically, none of them were from my company. for those who don't know, this is only the second time i've gone clubbing (first was during the limbo period between J2 and army, about one and a half years ago), and prior to this, i haven't been drinking for about 3 to 4 months.

taking the above into consideration, i think i did quite ok this time round. managed to outlast 3 to 4 of the 7 guys there (which i assume puts me in mid-range for alcohol tolerance). only little hiccup was that i KO-ed for 45 minutes between 2am to 2:45. but at least there were no messes (none that i created, anyway) and i'm not wishing that i was dead every 3 minutes or so, like i was at about 4 to 5am. it was a pretty fun experience, but one which i don't think i'll be repeating in the next...6 months? a year? forever? who knows? one thing's for sure though; i'm extremely appreciative of the "no smoking in clubs and other assorted public places" rule that was established last year. the lack of smoke reduces your urge to puke. but the music's still too loud, which is not good when your head's pounding along to the beat.

let's assess what's killing my liver now:
- 1 shot tequila
- many many glasses of chivas + mixer (works out to about 4 glasses of alcohol or so)
- a bit of lychee martini
- 1 shot B-52

hmmm...don't think i left anything out. so, outcome of the outing is i got home at about 7am, and slept until 11:45. still trying to undo some of the damage by rehydrating myself and trying to believe that my liver's not busted yet. all in all, i'll survive, but i just wish that that sense of minor disorientation would go away. oh well. probably should drink more water to flush the alcohol out, and get some food in my stomach. if it worked when i was half-dead at 4am, i'm sure it'll work now since i'm more alive.

-random thought of the day: I borrowed Calvin and Hobbes books from the library!-

The second round of ops is over and done with, which means i'm on extended off again! but you'd probably know that already if you've seen my facebook recently (i.e. within the last 12 to 13 hours.). one thing does kind of annoy me though, which is the fact that my whole shift was held back until close to 9pm because some people were 6 hours late in taking over. we say "no need to rush" as a matter of courtesy, but this is pushing it, don't you think? maybe i should try and claim another half day...or not. who knows what might happen?

anyways, today is the first day of my 5-day break (which would have been 5.5 days if not for the late takeover). around half of it has passed already, so i'm left with 4.5 days to go. i have no concrete plans as of yet (except for saturday), but i foresee some (or all) of the following happening within this time:

- sleeping, slacking, stunning
- CoH
- going shopping
- mahjong
- possibly meeting up with friends

of course, there could be others, but that's about all i can think of at this point of time.

for some odd, inexplicable reason, i've been having weird dreams in camp. the stupid thing is, when i wake up, i can remember them in great detail. i even narrated the dream (out loud!) to myself to make sure i wouldn't forget it. but then, it's gone from memory 5 hours later. maybe i'm not meant to find out about it just yet, but i do wish i could at least remember the gist of it.

halfway through writing this post, i had this urge to search youtube for CJC, so i did. and guess what? i saw a video of ODAC performing at this year's CNY concert. it brought back some memories of JC life, and to be quite honest, i miss the closeness and atmosphere. you just don't get that in army. maybe i'm overdue for a visit? but that'll have to wait until later, because it's the june holidays now.

speaking of which, have i mentioned how sad i am to not have any holidays? one solid month of doing nothing (except for holiday homework when the mountain on your table makes you feel guilty). well, at least this means half the year is almost over. half a year closer to ORD!

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

Plans for today originally included mahjong and dinner, but it's probably shelved due to lack of people. so, i'm just going to nua at home on my day off from ops. kind of sad, isn't it? the fact that thunder's rumbling in the sky doesn't really help to lighten the mood either.

with regard to the long story i mentioned in the previous post, it's been more or less settled, so i'm not going to dwell on it any more.

oh. i did confirm my place in NUS after all. you see, i went to check out some foreign universities' websites. after looking at their application processes and entrance requirements, i thought it was too much of a hassle. besides, i'm quite satisfied with what i have at present, so no point fixing something that's not broken.

it really looks like i'll be spending my sunday at home, with rain (well, the weather's cleared up a bit now). maybe i'll go for an evening walk or go window shopping at j8. that should lift my spirits a little.

-random thought of the day: I'm bored.-

How can ONE small SMS spoil an otherwise-perfect day?

before anyone jumps to (seemingly) logical conclusions, no, i wasn't activated and recalled to camp on my day off. in fact, the SMS has nothing to do with army stuff at all. the whole story goes something like this:

one of my friends was not well. it started 2 fridays ago (the same day as iron man and dinner). he managed to hold on until monday, where he finally got himself admitted to hospital. according to another friend, he was discharged sometime during the week, while i was still on ops. today, yet another friend SMSed me to tell me that the first friend is not exactly happy that i didn't pay him a visit in hospital.

so right now, the main thing bugging me is, how was i supposed to visit while on ops, and when the discharge date comes before my off? leave is obviously out of the question (i say again, oscar papa sierra - OPS), and i can't leave camp without an extremely good reason. my question at this point is, what's the fuss about? i'm honestly at a loss as to how to tackle this problem, and it's probably not a good idea to let it drag. i think i'll make a few calls later in the evening to iron things out.

that little issue aside, today went pretty well. as my facebook says, i did go back to cat high for a while earlier on, and i met a few familiar faces there. sadly, the number of these familiar faces seems to be decreasing with each visit i make. saw my friend/secondary school classmate there (which was one of my motivating factors to visit) who's doing some relief teaching between his end of poly and start of NS. kind of funny to see things from the other side. had some laughs talking about our lower secondary school days and the havoc our class caused. we also tried to recall who sat where in the classroom, but remembering seating positions doesn't seem to be a strength that either of us possesses. laughed even more while browsing through the students' attempts at letter writing ("dear nameless, how are you? ........ love, anonymous"), and had a little serious discussion about NS. all in all, definitely time well spent. i came away with some food for thought too...what if i did relief teaching for say, a school term while waiting for university to begin? the choice is hanging around somewhere in the back of my mind, so i guess i'll bookmark it and seriously consider it when the time comes.

my university letter finally came! i have a place in NUS, for chemistry. for those of you who know what i applied for, it should have occurred to you by now that i didn't get my first choice, which was chemical engineering. strangely though, i'm not feeling all that sad. you see, i was having second, third, fourth and fifth thoughts about putting chemical engineering as my first choice. my plan was to accept what the university gave me, unless there was a very good motivating factor to fight for one instead of the other. but after re-reading my cousin's email (she's a professional chemical engineer) and talking to some people in camp with a chemical engineering background, i sort of realized that maybe, just maybe, chemical engineering wasn't my cup of tea after all. so, long story short, i'm actually kind of happy/relieved that my application turned out the way it did. now, all i have to do is to log in and confirm my acceptance of the place. and yet, i still don't feel, well, ready to confirm it. this is mainly because i haven't checked the foreign universities out yet, and like a typical kiasu singaporean, i'm worried about shortchanging myself. sad, isn't it? well, i have until 2nd june to decide, so i can probably sit on it a little longer.

hard to believe that i'm running on 2 hours' sleep. guess anticipation of the days events pushed fatigue aside temporarily. but now that the events are over, fatigue is creeping back in. i guess i'll take it easy for the rest of tonight.

-random thought of the day: I still have a phone call to make.-

Sleep deprivation is something i normally do not practise, but extereme times call for extreme measures. my stay up all night plan was successful, but not completely, since i stole a 3-hour power nap from 12am to 3am, and dozed off (for short periods only!) several times after that. nevertheless, my ultimate goal of being tired enough to sleep in camp has been fulfilled, and the fact that i took the time to get some more stuff done in CoH is just a bonus.

at present, i have about 23 minutes before i have to shower up and prepare to book in. i'm really not sure how to spend my last few remaining moments of freedom, though i know catching a nap is out of the question. heh.

well, i'd best be off then. better to be really early than just a little bit late.

-random thought of the day: I bought Fox mints for duty!-

Being back on ops has its pros and cons, the biggest con staring me in the face now being missing out on my long weekend. still, it's a refreshing change from routine life (which i've grown sick of again very quickly), and even from the previous round of ops, seeing as my role is different this time. as usual, i'm still not going to say what my role is, or give away any compromising details, so that's about it.

got asked out by my cousin today, who is surprisingly out of camp. went to watch harold and kumar, which is quite surprising since i never had any intention of catching it in the first place. it is, quite surprisingly, not bad. in fact, i'd go as far as to say it borders on good (well, as good as these kind of movies get anyway). during the trailers shown before the actual movie, i took the time to come up with a list of movies i want to watch. they are, listed by priority,

1. You Don't Mess with the Zohan
2. Get Smart
3. The Dark Knight
4. Hulk

assuming i have to watch all on weekends, it comes up to just under $40. better start saving.

doesn't it just suck to know that you have to be stuck in camp on a saturday? no prizes for guessing who's in that predicament now. but it's all in the course of duty to country and protecting the nation, so...not much choice about it.

here's a little poem from harold and kumar that i think is quite cute (in a rather nerdy/geeky kind of way):

I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun,
as 1.7321
Such is my reality,
a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed

i'm actually quite impressed by the person who came up with it (heard he died of AIDS though).

well, that's about all i have for now. i'm going to try and pull an all-nighter so i can go back to camp and sleep tomorrow.

-random thought of the day: My bio-clock is about to get screwed up really badly.-

Word out on the street is that my next long weekend may not happen after all, due to some more confidential operations. but i'm just going to wait it out and see what happens, since these rumours have been known to be grossly exaggerated/untrue.

friday's engineer parade was pretty interesting. felt good to be a spectator for a change, and not a participant. though i've been in the engineer formation for a little more than a year, it was the first time i heard the engineer march live. first time i saw a 2-star general in person too. luckily, everything wrapped up fast, and there was enough time after that to catch iron man and have dinner at Tony Roma's.

iron man was pretty good, actually. i particularly liked the technology shown in the movie. just imagine - what if everyone had a virtual PA/butler, could stick their hands into holograms and have them respond appropriately, or could interact with machines like they were pets/humans? it would be quite fun, but then, i doubt if it would be possible within the next 20 years. oh well. i won't complain as long as it happened somewhen in my lifetime. oh. and if you're thinking of watching the movie (i'd be surprised if any comic-book fan hasn't watched it by now), do stay until after the credits.

dinner was great too, but not so great on the wallet. bill for 3 = $135.33 or something like that. luckily i wasn't the sole bill-footer for the night. nevertheless, it put a quite sizable $60-shaped dent in my bank account. it also helped that the following day was pay day. you feel the blow less when input exceeds output.

recently, my slippers have got into the habit of breaking up at the most inconvenient times (eg. while i'm out of the house and on the move). as such, i've got a new pair of sandals from turf city, which will hopefully last for a few years. if they die on me too, then i'll just have to resort to SAF sandals, but only after i ORD. it's kind of a funny psychological thing about me. i'll tend not to wear things associated with an organization (eg. school t-shirts) while i'm still in that organization. but once i leave, it becomes normal everyday wear. so...back on track. SAF sandals are actually pretty comfortable, but you won't see me putting them on outside camp just yet.

this coming week is the start of the 20th week of the year. do you know what that means? it means that i have about 30 more weeks to go before i can receive the ultimate promotion to civilian. 30 weeks is not that long actually. it's just the duration of 5 consecutive signal courses, or 3 consecutive school terms, or 2 consecutive BMTs, or 1 BMT, 1 signal course and 2 months of unit life, or 10 more haircuts (assuming one per 3 weeks). i can survive this!

like i said on thursday, it looks like my week will be quite a busy one. need to settle some paperwork matters, and inform the higher-ups about the downgrade. i wonder how they'll take it?

-random thought of the day: It's a nice, relaxing Sunday.-

Regular working hours are back, and it's taking some time to get re-acclimatized to them. as usual, i think i'll survive.

for a four-day work week, it was pretty slack. didn't really do that much construcive stuff (which is why next week is going to be busy). also this week, i received 2 pieces of news. first was that all signallers and medics were being transferred to BHQ...which got cancelled after one day. second is that i've been downgraded...permanently. implications of the above? i'll still be stuck at company line, but in a more relaxed state than before. hopefully things work out.

while still on matters happening this week, i thought i'd just mention that my boss (ops spec) and 2 other specs just ORD-ed. i'll most definitely miss them (my boss at least), but well, they've served their time already. just need to get used to having a new ops spec i guess.

status updates on university applications are nonexistent. nothing's come in the mail yet, which means i've either been rejected from chemical engineering, or NUS on a whole. no big deal for the former, since i was considering giving it up anyway, but the latter deserves some concern. maybe i better start looking into that overseas university thing my uncle was talking about.

that's it for now, probably going to log in to CoH for a bit to see whether my bids have been successful.

-random thought of the day: Parade at Nee Soon tomorrow.-

Earlier this year, on 21 march (which happened to be good friday), i forgot to state that it was my 1-year anniversary of POP-ing from tekong. so today, i will not forget to say that it's been a full year since i've passed out of SI. this means i've been a qualified signaller for a full year. significance of this is it means that i'm that much closer to ORD, and incidentally, i'm the most lao-jiao NSF signaller in my unit. heh. to add on to significant dates, this coming wednesday will be my first year anniversary in sungei gedong. and as i've said before, once i've completed one full year, what more is 7 months? should be no kick, right? hopefully so.

today is also the last day of my extended off, which kind of sucks. i mean, how good does it feel to know that you'll be back in camp in about 9 1/2 hours? well, consolation is that the last few days were spent pretty well, and there's a half-day off this coming friday, with the possibility of overnight marathon mahjong till saturday morning. so i guess i can look forward to that.

since i'm on a break from CoH now, i thought i'd do a little survey, seen below:

Looooonng Survey
How Many of these Questions can you do?
How many letters are there in your name?:	5, 8 or 16, depending on how full my name is
Do you have a nickname?:	More than I'd like
Does it have more or less letters than your nickname?:	Some more, some less
What do you least like to be called?:	People who know me well enough should know this
Do you like your name?:	I can live with it
Do you know what your name means?:	Vaguely
Do you like paper money or coins better?:	Coins in camp, paper everywhere else
Do you have a job?:	Yes...sort of
Where do you live?:	Bishan
What country is that?:	Singapore
Do you live close to water?:	I have taps, and there's a swimming pool within walking distance
Do you live near mountains?:	Nope
Do you have any siblings:	Yes
How many?:	2
How many cousins do you have?:	19 last count
Do they live near you?:	All within a 20km radius.
DO you have a large family?:	I think so
DO you live with your parents?:	Yes
Would you live in a camping van?:	I might...
Would you live out of a back pack?:	I've done it before
Would you live in a castle?:	Yes...should be fun
What's the most irratating thing that your parents do?:	SMS me in ALL CAPS, repeat themselves too much for my own good
Are you a private person?:	Depends on the people I'm around
Do you have chores?:	Only those I give myself
Do you have pets?:	Sort of...there was this abandoned rabbit in the playground, and being the kind, dumb 12 year-old I was, I took it home and kept it for about 2 weeks. Then my parents had enough and sent it to the SPCA.
Do you like animals?:	Yes
Do you prefer domestic or wild animals?:	Domestic
Have you ever had an imaginary friend?:	Not in my memory, though I could be wrong
Do you have real friends?:	Yes
Do you have a best friend?:	Yes, I think so
Do you fight with them?:	Yes
Do you have enimies?:	Most definitely
Did you ever pretend to be a superhero when you were little?:	Who hasn't?
What are you doing right now?:	Filling out this survey
What should you be doing?:	Reading the newspaper, preparing for book-in, CoH, sleeping?
Does food sound good?:	Not now, I just ate
Do you cook?:	Only if I have to
What's the scariest household appliance?:	Iron. Burned myself on it as a kid
Have you ever used a saw?:	Yes
Have you ever used a shovel?:	Yes
Do you write thank you cards?:	Not really
Do you use spell check?:	Not unless i don't know how to spell a word (which is rare)
Do you care if you mispell things?:	Yes when blogging and writing on paper
Do you make fun of people for spelling mistakes?:	Only if it's done often enough or too ridiculous
Are you happy with yourself?:	Yes in general, though there could be some improvements here and there
Are you happy?:	Yes, at this point of time
Have you ever been camping?:	Yes
Have you ever been to camp?:	All too often
Are you allergic to anything?:	Yes
Do you eat healthy or junk food?:	Both, depending on cicumstances
Do you eat porrige?:	Yes
How do you feel about fairy tales?:	Entertaining, but hardly believable
Do you keep a journal?:	A blog
Do you write poetry?:	Yes, in secondary school, but with disastrous results. And never again since then
Why are trees green?:	Chlorophyll
Whats the strangest thing you've ever been asked?:	Nothing comes to mind at this point of time
Which is a better word, yes or no?:	Yes
Do you know the order of letters on the eyesight test thing?:	No
Do you wear glasses?:	Yes
Do you wear contacts?:	No
Do you wish there was a way to permanently change your eye color?:	Yes, but maybe not permanently
What color are your eyes?:	Dark brown/black, can't decide
Do you believe that eyes are the window to the soul?:	Yes
How do you feel about mirrors?:	Neutral, unless they're in horror movies. Then I'm terrified of them
Are you superstitious?:	Yes
Do you believe in urban legends?:	To a certain extent
Are you afraid of the dark?:	To a certain extent, yes
Do basements scare you?:	Not really, unless I see torture devices in them
Do you have a psychologist?:	No
Do psychologists scare you?:	No
Have you ever studied dinosaurs?:	No
Do you wish they were still around?:	Not really. They seem to be quite hazardous to humans' well-being and survival
Have you seen dinosaur bones in a museum before?:	On TV
Have you had braces?:	No
Do you have fangs?:	I wish I did
Do you believe that you are a vampire?:	No, can't say I do
Do you think its possible to be a werewolf?:	Who knows?
Do you like musicals?:	Yes!
Do you own a flashlight?:	No. I own 2
Name something that you see is...
Red:	Clothes Hanger
Blue:	Computer tabletop
Green:	Trees outside my window
Yellow:	Chrysanthemum tea bottle
Orange:	Desktop wallpaper
Purple:	Laundry basket
Black:	Wrist rest
White:	Floor tiles
Grey:	Fan
Pink:	Chingay appreciation certificate
Brown:	Bed frame
Small:	A book
Large:	Printer
Ugly:	An insect
Pretty:	Lava lamp
Plastic:	Keyboard
Metal:	Keychain + keys
Wood:	Cupboard
Glass:	Window pane
Liquid:	100 Plus
Solid:	Lunch
Sparkly:	Lights on my router
Stupid:	Empty M&Ms dispenser
new:	Bedsheet
Yours:	Computer chair
Someone else's:	Some books
Broken:	Magic 8-ball
Important:	SAF 11B
Typed:	CoH character plans
Dirty:	Laundry
Clean:	Clothes in cupboard
On:	Phone
Off:	TV
Alive:	Me!
Dead:	Some insects should be lying around somewhere...
quiet:	The general atmosphere
noisey:	Windows Media Player
boyfriend/girlfriend
BF or GF:	None at this point of tiime
Is it a long term or short term?:	Hopefully long-term
casual or serious?:	It'd better be serious
How long have you been together?:	0 days, 0 hours
How did it start?:	It didn't
Do you see fat bouncing babies in the offing?:	NO, NEVER!
Is it a long distance relationship?:	Don't think so
Are you okay with PDA?:	Up to a limit
have you ever had a relationship that you regret?:	Nope
Are relationships important to you?:	Yes, but not top priority
Pick One
Drama or no drama:	No drama
screens or no screens:	No screens (don't quite get this)
drinking or no drinking:	Drinking
smoking or no smoking:	No smoking
work or no work:	No work!
sleep or no sleep:	Sleep
music or no music:	Music
perfume or no perfume:	No perfume
taxes or no taxes:	No taxes
drugs or no drugs:	No drugs
trees or no trees:	Trees
birthdays or no birthdays:	Birthdays, unless no birthdays means never growing old
snow or no snow:	Snow
pills or no pills.:	No pills
More randomness
What time is it:	1:44pm
how long has it taken to get this far:	39 minutes
What is behind you:	Clothes rack
What is to your left:	Wall
What is to your right:	Fan
Whats above you:	Ceiling
What's the nearest gas station?:	SPC
Do you write letters?:	Yes, but cards mostly
Are you getting tired yet?:	Not really
Do you like people?:	Depends on who the people are
What are you wearing?:	T-shirt, shorts
What are you sitting on?:	My computer chair
Take this survey Find more surveys Bzoink - The Original Survey Site

ok...that survey wiped me out more than i'd thought it would. going to take a quick break from the computer and catch up on my newspaper reading (it's been 2 weeks since i've read the sunday times!). i think i'll update again before i leave the house, but don't bet on it.

-random thought of the day: I should go catch Iron Man! But when?-