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?-

Guess who got to stay out today and is at home blogging now?

since you're reading this, there are no prizes for getting the correct answer. in a rare display of kindness, my RSM decided to let everyone stay out for a night. well, there was the slight problem of not having sufficient bunks to house everyone, but let's stick to the earlier assumption, yes? so...that's why i'm at home on a nice monday evening.

you know, i think staying out makes time pass just a little bit faster. every day's book out day, so it's easier (and more fun) to look forward to getting off work. not to mention people can't disturb you during your rest time and ask you to go down to the office because something needs to be done. only issue with me staying out at my present camp/unit is the time taken to travel to and fro from camp, and not to mention the cost. assuming i rely on public transport, average time taken to travel from home to camp is 2 hours. which means if i knock off at 5:30, i'll reach home around 8:00 (including walking time and any traffic condition or congestion on the bus/train). this also means that i'd have to leave home at around 5:45am to catch the first train and bus to camp. which equates to me having 8 hours and 45 minutes to myself every day, and around 6 of which will be spent sleeping. this doesn't even take transportation costs into account. so...if given the opportunity to stay out at a camp closer to home, say nee soon, khatib, or even payar lebar air base, i'd jump at the opportunity. but that will only happen if i get posted out, so it's just a fantasy for now.

sometimes, i wonder where exactly i fit in in my group of friends. i remember reading somewhere (memory indicates it's FHM) that a typical all-guys group will consist of a few stereotypes, namely the leader, the know-it-all, the entertainment coordinator, the listener, and the fall guy. more often than not, i seem to belong in the last category, which is actually starting to wear me out. i don't know...maybe it'll get better once army ends, or when one of the other guys in the group goes in next thursday. wait and see for now i guess.

today, i learnt something rather embarrassing about someone in my company. normally, it would just be juicy gossip to me, but i'm paying more attention to this particular person since he's been on our cases for discipline and all that junk. i couldn't believe the stuff i heard. next time extras are flying around, perhaps i should sit down with the person concerned for a little talk.

if i had any leave to spare, i would definitely take the next 9 working days off, sadly, that is not to be, since my leave has been swee-swee-ly planned for the rest of the year. the reason i would go to such extremes is because next week is not a good week to be in camp, seeing as all my old specs and officers are ORD-ing in the upcoming fortnight (the last ones collect their pink ICs next monday). there's nothing more demoralizing than to watch people you've worked with and come to know (and depend on, or maybe even like) leave you in the lurch as they head for greener pastures. when the specs were talking about ORD-ing, i suddenly remembered a conversation i had with one of them outside the company office in the (now demolished) old building. i even remember that that was the day my cousin passed out from BMT in tekong, which was in mid-june last year. that was the day when the previous generation of specs ORD-ed, and we were talking about how fast time went by (i was a 6-month and 2-week old soldier then). well, fast forward a year (well, slightly less, to be precise), and it's my turn to say goodbye to them as they leave. hopefully december comes soon. then i can say goodbye again, but from the other side of the fence.

all the ORD-festiveness prompted me to do some counting down of my own. at this point in time, i have about 187 to 188 absolute days left, but only 118 or so working days. these 118 days are spread out in 26+ weeks, which is definitely less than the 49 i started out with at the beginning of the year, and just a quarter of the 104 which i had 2 decembers ago. honestly, even i have trouble believing that nearly 1 and a half years have passed since enlistment, but it's the truth. well, i could always pretend that it was january now and try to last until june or july. that's roughly the same time period i have to go through anyway.

well, i should probably log on to CoH for a bit to entertain myself. can't stay up all night though; i have to be in camp tomorrow, and unlike the ops period, sleeping in the day isn't looked favourably upon, especially when there's work to be done.

random thought of the day: This is the first time in my close-to 13 months in camp I've been allowed to stay out.

8:15pm on a sunday night means i have to be in camp in about 2 hours' time. i'm ahead of time today, so i thought i'd blog before going to get ready.

this weekend has been like another typical, regular weekend. turf city on saturday, 4 rounds of mahjong after that (!), and another round today. net loss: $15. there seems to be a pattern to my games. during the first 1 or 2 winds, i can win big. but then it goes downhill from there. had some interesting hands though, like yesterday's 3 kongs and zi muo. nearly did it again today, but it wasn't meant to be. so oh well. it was good for my heart anyway.

june's started! it's a little depressing to see all the kids who are still in school slack around for one full month. well, that's not completely true, depending on the school you're in. for instance, there's remedial lessons and mid-year exams (for some crazy schools) during this period. what happened to nice slow-paced holidays, where the only way to tell what day of the week it was was to see whether your parents went to work? i, for one am happy that i didn't have to put up with this kind of nonsense in my schooldays. i'd probably skip the lessons anyway.

apparently, my tendency for having weird dreams isn't limited to while i'm in camp. for instance, i just had this odd dream where artillery officers stormed my school (memory indicates it was either my JC or primary school...can't remember which) and were abusing some of the people there by putting them in all sorts of odd submission holds. so, i was about to go and save one of them...and woke up. guess the ending will remain a mystery for now.

my best guess as to why i'm having all these funny dreams is because my "sleep account" is in severe deficit, i.e. i have an outstanding sleep debt to settle. probably can write it off in camp. just need to sleep a little earlier every day.

one sad thing about being on ops (other than the weekends burnt) is that you have practically zero time to maintain your fitness. you're on either duty or rest in camp, and personally, i treasure my day off too much for running. so, that's led to a rather alarming decline to my fitness (whatever little of it there was in the first place). have to start building up again, both for personal well-being and since the AHM is coming around in another 2+ months or so. 2 days off for completing 21km in less than 2 hours 15 minutes. works out to be about 156 metres per minute (anyone care to check? i got a C for maths). sounds accomplishable.

ok, i'll cut it here. 15 minutes before i have to go pack my stuff and shower up. hopefully everything goes smoothly this week. after all, we have to adjust back to regular working hours again.

-random thought of the day: I don't want to book in!-