Sunday, February 20, 2005
book out at last!
and then i was back in again.
haha thats more or less how it works, but it was great to see dawn ashypoo howard and justin last night! and mr ngoei too hehe. albeit the last 3 abit more than tipsy =p or maybe not justin lah haha.
its quite... funny lah. how like meetings suddenly become more significant and yet seemingly more shortlived at the same time. think i'll coin it the 'NS effect' haha =p i dunno lah but it really makes you treasure all the times we had together more, and each like,new memory becomes more significant, maybe because you know that these are the bonds that will last a lifetime.
anyhow bmt has definitely been a soulsearching experience, pushing my limits and letting me discover more about what i want to be in the future. of course there'll be fears like what if i'm only choosing this path for the wrong reasons, or just because it seems like a good one right now. but i guess that God will lead me, and everything will work out =) and hopefully ocs is looming now :D
results are almost out aren't they! less than 2 weeks liao... not sure whether any of you are dreading it or what, but dont lah =p i know it holds great bearing on our like, economic future and studies etc, but at the end of the day, they're just results of one test we took in our lives. there will be many more to come, and many other oppurtunities to head our way. many people might see JC as a time to pia for the As, and the As as the overall focus and aim of jc, something which it revolves around. but i dont think so. i think jc is/was a time for us to find out about who we really are, and more importantly, form bonds and relationships that can withstand the test of time.
something which we did. =)
enjoy the week ahead everyone! see you all on friday night ;) - if i dont get confined!!
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
its probably true that its harder to blog here now because we're physically all so far apart. but i think that this blog can actually be a conduit to bring us together. reading about sulynn's reminiscing of the past, josh and luke's tirades and reflections of army and stella's hyper rants, does remind me of everyone's various antics back in the class of 2AH. and since we rarely get to see each other nowadays, its kinda nice to have someplace to check back on and see how everyone is doing. anyway it was nice to see everyone last friday... though i spent most of the night playing halo and falling asleep in front of the screen haha. although i haven't seen liz, xiangwei and mel for ages and ages! where'd you all go to! haha well guess we'll all see each other pretty soon... results haha. take care everyone, see you all on results day.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
okie new layout... much simpler =p and old class photo too!
mich pls changed the tagboard colours... hee =)
anyway yah gotta be at whitesands in like less than 2 hours... and nxt weekend probably wont get a chance to see you guys (or most of you at least). so... haha see you all soon! take care ah.
will be missing and thinking of all of you.. :)
*sorry for sleeping on sat lah, was quite shagged and moody
**liz and xiangwei hope u having fun far away :p
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
lord of the flies
'he (golding) here presents the universe under the guise of a school adventure story on a coral island' - e.m. forster
i think the saf has been pretty successful in establishing a civilization of sorts on tekong. visitors to the island are instantly struck by the professionally constructed buildings fronting the ferry terminal. in fact, imo our bunks and facilities are comparable to that of local hostels. still, ns assumes a new form when you're out in the woods...
considering most of us had zero outfield experience, i personally found field camp (mine was from 1-7 feb) quite useful. now if i ever go to war, at least i know how to take proper cover from the enemy (i hope). but what really made me reflect was how things started to change ever so slightly once we marched out from the relative comfort of our company line into hitherto unexplored sites. things like our instructors. our performance. ourselves.
doesn't going through field camp on tekong kinda remind you of a particular assembly of impressionable young men marooned on an exotic island? while the basic military training school remains only remotely connected to the external world, it is nevertheless governed by a firm code of conduct. outfield, who knows? at times, it felt as though field camp mirrored the situation in golding's novel. certainly, the signs were there. just like the darkness caused the boys to visualize beastly images, it's nearly impossible to accomplish anything once the sun sets (since we must remain tactical and hence use torches sparingly). even navigating your way among a whole row of tents requires some light. painted faces and long hair: maybe not the hair on our heads, cos we had a 2nd haircut couple of days before field camp. rather, after not shaving for some time... and camouflage cream was left on our faces almost 24/7. green with black streaks.
think about the pig hunt - 'wedded to the sow in lust'? on our last night, a wild boar infiltrated our defences and headed towards our trenches (allegedly). before long, a horde of recruits and instructors had gathered in search of the intruder, m16 rifles at hand. for a split second, it looked like we were about to go after the wild boar ala jack. soon enough however, it retreated back into the wilderness and everyone went back to their own stuff. all we had were blank rounds anyway. finally, as for the lord of the flies, you just had to visit our field latrine to find out...
golding's novel is allegorical, even apocalyptic. but somehow, his vision didn't seem so far away amidst the tekong terrain.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Impromptu Blog (as it is, day 2 of field camp, permatang)
FIgured that this is the est time to write an entry for the class blog, lying prone in the 'fake' jungle of Tekong, where all the trees are in neat even rows and provide shit for cover. heh. really reminds me of malaysia... *hinthint* haha. but since im waiting for it to get dark, part of our stand to practise, i thought i might as well do some reflecting and thinking, to keep awake it nothing else.
the smell of the grass is so... real =p its not easy to lie still when your body is pressing into your SBO and your'e using your rifle as a base to write, as sweat drips everywhere. oops someone else just got caught by a sergeant for talking and shifting around.. heh =) *halo*
i miss all of you! cant wait for chinese new year. celebrating my bday in the field will be interesting... maybe i'll get to do more pumping/guard duty. bleh my handwriting is getting really illegible, and im starting to cramp a little. but anyway, army has been fun! God's definitely been guiding me every step of the way, and its so cool that its when im like in a completely new place, surrounded by spiders/snakes/sandflies/centipedes/hornets/wildboars
that i feel Him the most.
hmm the field rations are actually quite edible, and maybe even nice (for combat rations at least) and the apricot/honey bars and apple/blueberry bars are damn good! but as my platoon sergeant calls it... 'its becoming a pussy army, dont ask me why lah' with wet tissues, and supposedly a reduction in pumping as a form of punishment. not that im complaining lah, i can still push myself without punishment, im not here to keng but to have fun and maye find my limits. still seems abit weird to be the first batch to have like, super modified bmt anyway. v different from what you hear about from seniors. being a pilot is high on my mind... i do love the sky anyway.
gonna take at least another 30 minutes for it to get dark... doubt i can keep up my writing till then. but its gonna be 5 days and 5 nights left soon.. =) and then i'll get to see all my loved ones again. which of course means all of you!
even just lying here, i can just close my eyes and feel so alive. im discovering what life means, but more importantly what it means to be me. no matter how tough things get, i'll be okae. and i know that im loved, and that alone is enough to keep me going, as long as it takes. +)
aH. The class that i could only dream of, and yet dreams do come true.
