The Legendary...

Sucker. That's the term used to describe Tsunade, the Slug Tamer from Naruto Series. Little did I expect after my longer than usual stint at Kakit Bukit Driving Centre that I had made a name for myself. While my bunkmate got the best driver award, I became a legend among the driving circles. (more like infamous). Didn't expect my junior to also hear rumours about me.

It must have been months. The day that I left the accursed place, I swore to myself never to touch that place for a long time. (that is, after making my @#$!%$@#$@#4@ instructor waste $200 on me. Deserves it anyway. What comes around goes around). You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Likewise. Treat us shabbily. And we will give you hell.

Glad to meet so many old friends during the past few days. Trung, my Vietnamese ex-classmate, was sighted in City Hall. Sadly, I was rushing at the moment. If I had the time, I would wanna catch up with him.

98 days. Reminds me of how we used to count down to the A levels.

K-Box and Track

Went with Eddie Cai and Ivan to Paradiz to sing at K-Box. Ma first time there. Yonglai was supposed to join us. The room reeked of cigarette smoke, toilets had "take drugs and you could lock your family out" signs. Nonetheless, we sang from 2 to 6.
Went to Ivan Lee Kai Wen 's house. Had a wonderful prelude to Heroes 5, which is basically Heroes 3 in 3D form. Sadly, its minimum requirement is way above for my laptop to support.
Later, Ivan drove us to Wei Xian's house. Initially thought that the track gathering would be a small one. His house is on the slope along a narrow road. Ultra steep slope of 45 degrees. It was made worse by the fact that his house number has no visible light near it. We missed it and cursed as we make a 3 point turn downslope.
Time lock. After 2 years of absence, four batches of trackkers reunite in a house. It is a strange feeling, indescribable by words. As for the NSFs, the 2 years of stasis have almost come to an end. Finally left the place with Enhui and Enming in a cab.

Thursday Back!

Finally. Returned home after 5 days in camp, instead of six. Managed to apply for Friday off through my PC. Let's see. My current expenditure is close to $200 now; it is a signal for me to send my wallet for hibernation, until pay day again that is.

Thursday evening. As usual, my battalion being a signal battalion is tasked to do manual labour for others. The specialists have to go to the mess and set up happy hour for our 42 SAR brethren. And also clear their mess after they all sing song and be merry.

Unfortunately, the stay-out personnel and I do not have the luxury of time to accommodate them. We ate our shares of dinner, coupled with the ultra delicious durian, jackfruit and mango and F.O. (fall out; as one officer put it). Used to detest eating durian. Now I realise the richness of the flesh. Even if the stench puts me off, I will still relish the taste.

Most happifying. What a word. Yes. I do get to skip another lame parade and book in to Stagmont on Monday for my course. For the next 3 Mondays, that is.

The bad news is that I kena guard duty on National Day! (WT1=) 24 hours shift. I will probably be watching the NDP in the guardhouse. Otherwise I will be whiling my time away sleeping. I pretend to console myself by reasoning with myself. After all, I get free food and save on transport fees. (in exchange for freedom that is) =( . Damn.

Sunday Gone

Just completed another 5 day week. Thankfully, I got karaoke sessions (at the specialist mess), nights off, magic games to keep my night busy. If not, I will probably be sleeping around 7pm. Monday was a chore; RSM was shouting commands while we were furiously marching around the parade square:
"Gentlemen, stop dreaming."
"Battalion , watch your front, WATCH YOUR FRONT."
Damn, I hate it when SAF ppl call us gentlemen. Other than that, we spent the whole afternoon reeling the damn D-10 cable. As you know, D-10 is one hella wire to crimp, tie and seize. Made with PVC coating (bloody hard to remove unless with excessive force) insulating 4 copper and 3 steel wires, D-10 cables gave many a scratch, mark and bruise. The area that we worked in looked like a nuclear waste zone, with many sad-looking wires strewn around the floor. Still, it does not help when the whole platoon only has 4 wire cutters and a reeling machine.
Friday was spent running 10km out of camp; met Quan Han along the way. It's been a long time since I saw him. Meanwhile, I have to carefully avoid kicking the four cute puppies along the rugged road. If only they were not strays, I would have adopted one of them. They are seriously cute.
Trying to complete whatever errands that I have. That includes sewing stupid stuffs on my uniform just to look like a professional 3G army, which I find is a waste of time and effort. Watching a movie with Thng proves to be a surprising challenge as well.
And tomorrow I will be walking half-exhausted around a forsaken camp trying to protect the nation...:(. And so begins the start of the 6 day week.

Sunday Slack

Home cooked dinner is always the best, I must say. Just enjoyed a pleasant meal, lazing around until 2030 (830pm), in which I have to drag my weary feet to Pasir Ris MRT and embark on a 2hr journey to camp.
Unknowingly, the weekend always seem to pass faster than a normal SAF workday. One SAF workday=2 normal weekday. As I am typing this, Alvin Ong must have already begun tutoring a JC1 student. From the conversation that Eddie and I overheard, it seems to me that A.O might have a difficult time.
The @#$*@#$ RSM decided to postpone his parade from last Thursday to tomorrow; which means I have to be on the ball for one more day. Damnit. I wonder if our taxpayer's money can be used more efficiently instead of just conducting area-cleaning, bunk inspection and parades.

I wonder what my future holds for me. Used to make useless grandiose plans. Now I realise my folly; maybe living through one day at a time, a step at the time is better. Regardless. Can do with some help with divine intervention and alignment. Nothing beats being at the right place at the right time. September the 1st. An important date in my organiser. Maybe I can ask Ken Toh for a tip or two next week. Meanwhile, I must remind myself to bring the 2 Eng Wah tickets (costs only $7 each) so that I can watch Pirates with Thng next week.

Happy Hour

The so called SAF way of destressing and rest and recreation. My current OC is leaving. The battalion decided to send him off with a celebration.

Food was catered for, courtesy of Singapore Food Industry. Those that came from the cookhouse was relatively left untouched, while those ordered by OC was finished. (fries and onion rings).

Had karaoke throughout the night. RSM entered the mess later, but we pretended to not notice him. He had a sad night drinking beer alone with the CO. Meanwhile, our two former PCs came back and were welcomed with much applause, more so than the CO (in fact he had none).

Ended around 11pm. Apparently, some got drunk and had to be carried back. Is it true that drinking makes one forget his troubles? The drunkard sounded very tipsy and happy. I will never know, because I can never smell the horrid stench of beer and drink it.

The Black Lotus

If only I can get my hand on the legendary artifact card. I remember Damien casually mentioning it to me once. Too bad I was too "noobish" to understand the intricate mechanics of Magic. If only I had paid more attention 7 years ago.

Had been playing against the dumb AI, while thinking of overseas options. Procrastination had become one of the core values that SAF had ingrained in me, washing the damn spots of my leopard skin proves to be harder than I thought.

Feels like JC all over again, when the company forces you to sit in the lecture theatre and teaches you about radios and antennas.

Ran 7 km again. Damn xian of life here in camp now. I had to resort to counting down my days as an NSF.

The black lotus and the desert rose. How ironic. Both unattainable and one of the kind.

The legendary black lotus

Germany vs Portugal

Was about to happily go home from Boon Lay to Pasir Ris, when Eddie Cai called me. Changed my going-home plans drastically to meet the Treetop Community LAN session plan. Went to Speedy as usual, to try to accumulate points for a free drink.

Played with the unintelligent AI while waiting for Ginway's friends. Played DoTA (as usual) and Battlefield 2. Was seriously not amused by Alvin Ong's antics of trapping me with trees and running away, happily allowing 5 enemy heroes to surround me. Stress built up over the week from stupid warrant officers was unleashed during the match itself. During the heat of the moment, I lost my cool.

Ginway had NDP parade full rehearsal the next day. As he happily remarked, it would be one of the few times that he get to go home after 2 months. Life of an officer sucks. (only if people keep on piling work on you). With higher rank comes greater responsibility.

At night the following day, I went over to Dingjie's house for a stayover, together with Lu Hsien and Yonghe. Watched Germany trounced Portugal 3-0, though I highly suspect that the clandestine meeting between Scholari and Jurgen(just before 2nd half) had a part to play. It might have went ----

Jurgen: "Hey scholari, let my team get 3rd place lar. In front of so many Germans, cannot lose face leh.
Scholari: "Ok lor, since my team is in this shitty match and not the finals, might as well do u all a favour. And if Ronaldo score, Germans will be the latest addition to the ppl that hate him."

And so, Germans pummelled 3 goals after the 2nd half. One from own player. (do I smell a fish here?) . In fact, Jens was seen thanking Ricardo after the match.

Jurgen:"Thanks ah, for pretending to save our goals."
Ricardo:"No prob, just show me the money later..."
-.-'''