hollaback_
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
i don't have to add anything more to this.
mike just took up your time at
11:14 pm
Friday, January 27, 2006
gong hei fat choy to all! (who still read)
so i'm here blogging now, when almost everyone else is back sleeping in the bunks. no, not because i'm sick, but because i got special treatment! hurhur. everyone going overseas in my company for CNY got to book out a day earlier, which is actually a day later by normal standards, since by right bookout should happen on the same day as the end of Field Camp (thursday). but because of some "special CNY lunch", it got pushed to saturday morning. i get to leave friday evening! yay.
talking about the "special CNY lunch", it was a marked improvement for their standards. instead of one piece of meat, we got 2! a chicken leg and a duck leg (LOL) as well as a cold (as in, just take out from the fridge kind of cold)
char siew soh as well as a curdled egg tart. oh, and an additional fried wanton. smashing! guess i can't complain, the food is usually not as good. was a bit disappointing, but expected after all that buildup, especially since we had to stay back longer just for it.
guard duty was really fun, and boring at the same time. all we did was patrol (prowl) around the whole campus at least twice, for 2 hour shifts with 4 hour break intervals in the span of 24 hours. i guess i've already completed my 24km route march, and those who can still count after math is no longer central to our lives (trying not to get F) will know roughly how long the perimeter is. i was happy that i was in the team that was walking in the other direction as the other team, because that one had to do all the checkpoint motions, which basically involves wielding a metallic dildo-like rod thing and shoving it into metallic plates so that a red light flashes, indicating that the checkpoint has been passed. at some places, the route gets really dark, which made things especially creepy at night. like the time my partner and i walked past a flickering street light which lit up after we passed it, in a different colour (white) from the rest (yellow). but i survived, so there. during the breaks we played card games, and tried to catch up on a bit of sleep, as much as we could on dirty-looking beds and mouldy, bloated pillows. they did provide bedsheets and pillowcases, but we decided to make do with the beds, and threw the lumps pretending to be pillows aside.
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i am glad to say that i have completed some of the integral things of BMT, such as field camp and live range shooting. although there's still live grenade throwing as well as SOC. shooting at the live range is better than the air-conditioned simulator because the targets are bigger, and they take time to come up (About a second, not to be scoffed at) instead of flashing instantaneously at the screen. the only thing that sucks is wearing the earplugs. the sergeant whom i got for my first round was really nice, because he asked me if i was scared at shooting live rounds. i wasn't, because i have shot them before, just that i'm scared of the earplugs falling out (lol) and he gave me a new pair! this is another thing that puzzles me. in a war, who's got time to wear earplugs and eyepatches?
on the whole, i think i did ok. unable to get marksmanship, because i'm just not that great. not a "bobo shooter", but not a sniper either. oh and night shooting was really fun, it just seemed more surreal and cool, and the fact that it's "Own Time Own Target", which basically means the target won't go down after some time, but will stay there until you finish all your rounds. i fucked up my very last one because the assistant didn't flash his torchlight properly, and in the rush of it all i slotted my magazine in the wrong way, and when it was finally remedied, i was too thrown off to shoot those last 4 rounds properly. i missed them all. annoying bugger. but it was a great experience, besides the horrendously long waiting time. because i'm in platoon one, and there are four platoons worth of people, you get the picture.
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field camp really wasn't as bad as i expected it to be. i just saw it as an extended sec one orientation camp cum OBS outdoor thingum. throw in some of the stuff that i've done before in NPCC, and it didn't seem very bad. apart from the combat rations. none were good, some were ok, and the rest were highly disgusting. cold meals sealed airtight in dark green packets that have expiry lifespans of about 2 years i think. eaten without utensils, just tear, squeeze and chomp.
extremely weird things that i am thankful i never have to do in my daily life include sprinkling powder over my faecal matter after i'm done so that the smell won't be that strong, and then covering it up, or shower in a three by two metre makeshift shower area with ten other people within 3 minutes, or strip down to my underwear and slippers along with forty-over other people and powder myself to high heaven on the rest of the days when a water bath is not a luxury.
don't let anyone ever fool you into believing that you'll lose your brains in the army. on the contrary, you exercise it more than ever. there's just so much to learn all the time. such as battle formations and file formations, as well as how to spy and camouflage ourselves with flair and effectiveness. true, there's a lot of physical stuff but the brain works really hard too. there's a constant inflow of information, and processing done. so don't be afraid of going stupid and becoming a mindless drone. the only caveat in all this is that the brainpower is working on a military, kill or be killed instinct, not a quiet, academic one. when people said that learning was a lifelong affair, they weren't kidding. randomly, i am rather amused by the 4-second rule, which basically means that while in a battle, you can't be standing up for more than 4 seconds, like when you move from one tree to another, because that's apparently the average time it takes for someone to aim and shoot. but it's not as though everyone shoots, or runs in unison. that part didn't make any sense to me at all, but oh well.
the last two nights would probably rank very high on the Weird but Ultimately Memorable and Interesting List. we had 3 campsites, and those two nights were spent at the last one. on the second last night, we reached the campsite in the evening, and so we had no tent roofs for that night. we just lay on groundsheets. for the previous 4 nights, it didn't rain. it only had to rain on that Very night! so there we were, at 1 in the morning, rudely awakened by a downpour that lasted over an hour with no shelter, huddled under our raincoats and close to each other, boots soaking wet and us shivering vigorously. that was especially strange considering someone remarked before sleeping that we were lucky it hadn't rained yet. hot milo in the morning never tasted so good.
i must say though, that that cannot hold a candle to the last night. we had to dig these one-man trench-like thingums called shell scrapes. their size is supposed to be standardized for easy replacement of men (ie, when you die, the reinforcement that arrives will be able to fit). you're just supposed to lie in there and shoot, because it's a defensive setup. the soil of course, is piled up on either side of it. when you imagine this on a macro level, it's like a graveyard. and yes, we had to sleep in it for one night. and because we had to use these black sticks that look like bubble tea straws called out-of-fire sticks to mark the outline, they looked like joss sticks at a grave. add to that certain people (including me) burning candles in the shell scrape to keep warm, and it really heightens the spooky graveyard effect. i felt like a zombie when i got up. hmm, zombie army. i think quite a few people got stepped on. thankfully mine was near the corner of the boundary, which meant less chances of that occuring. oh and i got picked to do sentry duty that fateful night, although i only did it for half the time before i had to scoot off to do my business (no one checks anyway, all the commanders themselves are sleeping). as i was squatting at some random tree, i heard someone coughing from a direction where there shouldn't be people. and that wraps up my one and only supernatural experience during outfield.
hrrrm. i want the fieldcamp photos! got to obtain them somehow. i look good in camo paint. =P it was so funny that we would preen ourselves and apply on more "makeup", asking each other if we looked good, glamming ourselves as much as we could before hamming it up for the camera. (on a little sidenote, some fuckers are such annoying camwhores, when they're so fugly, not even hulk-green cover and three haphazard black lines could save them. if you wanna camwhore, at least look good.)
you know, i'm really keen on obtaining the
Army Daze movie, or the playscript. might be quite hard though, it's been 10 years since it came out.
the best thing that has happened so far this year, is that i treated my family to dinner at a restaurant. feels good to pay the tab for all, in an odd way. and i guess it's about time anyway. i really do want to earn more than just a measly $350 a month though.
leaving for malaysia tomorrow for a few days, so ciao.
mike just took up your time at
11:50 pm
Saturday, January 14, 2006
tonight, i will be going back to that accursed island to embark on my second confinement period. actually, it should have started tomorrow but i got caught brushing my teeth after lights-out last night, so here i am with barely an hour or so to go before i have to book in again, to do punishment guard duty.
well at least i'll never have to do it again, and i won't need to do it with certain characters thank god.
in all honesty, the prospect of fieldcamp sounds very exciting! but i would REALLY have appreciated the rest break including tomorrow instead of returning almost immediately after booking out. i'll appreciate my CNY one week break, thank you very much.
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sometimes, the army really amazes/amuses me. i don't think i've ever heard of satay pork before. especially since satay is a malay dish. hmm.
and you'd think people who passed their NAPFA would be more in control of their bodies and be better at drills and marching and not be psychomotor freaks. apparently not.
see you at the end of january!
mike just took up your time at
4:01 pm
Sunday, January 08, 2006
| You scored as Sociology. You should be a Sociology major!
Theater | | 92% | Journalism | | 92% | Sociology | | 92% | English | | 83% | Dance | | 83% | Linguistics | | 83% | Psychology | | 83% | Philosophy | | 75% | Engineering | | 67% | Anthropology | | 67% | Art | | 58% | Biology | | 58% | Mathematics | | 58% | Chemistry | | 33% |
What is your Perfect Major?
created with QuizFarm.com |
mike just took up your time at
4:25 pm
coming of age.you don't need to join the army to be a man. you know things are different when your EZ-Link card doesn't make the doublebeep noise anymore, but has been modified to generate just a single defiant one.
you also know that things are different when you hardly get any more money from your parents, and your main source of income is this thin hard object and random yet strategically placed blue booths in singapore.
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Zouk was disappointing.------
the appeal of getting into a relationship lies in the fact that there is someone for one to rely on, always. in theory, anyhow. "till death do us part, in sickness and in health" of course, religion could always provide the same security, and even more. but for those who are sick and tired, sometimes religion gets somewhat questionable. to the skeptics, it is merely a human construct of the mind in mass, widespread proportions. but this isn't about religion.
sometimes i-
i wish there were 2 of me. since my life feels that way sometimes.
mike just took up your time at
1:27 pm
Saturday, January 07, 2006
i know why life is so scary now. because really, it's a journey we walk alone.
but for now, i'm just gonna go out, and hope it'll be fun tonight with the others.
mike just took up your time at
9:14 pm
Monday, January 02, 2006
i think it'll be pretty fun when the new recruits come in in a few days time, more people to see and talk to!
oh, and also the fact that i would probably be able to leave the stupid place halfway during their confinement period. =P
mike just took up your time at
5:26 pm
Sunday, January 01, 2006
first post for the new year!
the transition from 2005 to 2006 was a nasty one, because i wasn't even out. in fact, i wasn't even up! i just slept thru the whole damn thing. got a bad case of the flu and sore throat. i've been sick twice in the 3 weeks i've been in the army. i actually started out fine, but eventually i fell too since everyone around me was getting sick. and you know unless you fully recover you'll get a relapse. which i suppose is what's happening now. hmm, need to bring multivits and probably a facemask for sleeping. with all those germs circulating about everytime people cough at night, it's probably a good investment.
i really don't like reporting sick. people give you a funny look, and the commanders instantly assume that you're trying to slack off too. and what do you do when everyone else is training? oh, you merely sweep leaves and trash and do area cleaning. i didn't agree to National Slavery just to be a roadsweeper! it's really mundane, and i would much prefer taking part in the training. oh well, just my luck.
everytime the commercial planes fly by i feel a sense of awe. and sadness. like there go all the free people, able to do whatever they like, and here i am slogging away, being treated with suspicion from all angles. the fighter jets on the other hand, are somewhat inspirational as something to strive to.
i'm just glad i've found some new friends that i can trust. they make life in the hellhole that much better.
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what resolutions do i have this year? i really don't know. never really bothered with them much anyway. so what would i like.. OCS would be nice. and so would getting the love of my life. i can't really think of anything else. but then again, these things aren't totally within my reach, so they're not so much resolutions as they are goals and dreams.
ok actually there's really only one resolution that's really important to me. i need direction, i need an aim or a goal or something to work towards. and i mean long-term, like what i intend to study in the U and do as a career. i know it's abit of a tall order, but nobody got anywhere without knowing what they wanted. right now, i'm just living the days by without giving a damn about my future. that has to change. by the end of this year, i must know exactly what i want to end up as and start working towards it.
mike just took up your time at
11:01 pm
