Santa was here.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Chapter 72: Man who survived doomsday.

Hey you! 就是你! (I wonder if I have started out like this before. ='0)
It's a miracle! I'm using my book-out time to blog again.
And the reason is..
...
JUL's drumrolls
...
I'm sick! Yes, I just realised I like to blog when I fall sick.
To make my brain think more, and fall even more sick. Stupid.. I admit.
But well, I'm here and I'm typing so let me do some sharing.

Firstly, you might want to know why I am sick.
I'm not a doctor and I do not know why exactly, but what I know is that last week was really rough and tough.
My physical state was tested to the maximum, and part of my body has failed partially. ='(
But no worries because, mind over body. =')

Mind over matter = water? I don't really get the picture. But this is something I truly believe in, and unfortunately I got to test it out in Tekong.

Anyway, let me start with the description of my hell week #2. (Field camp week is hell week #1 so yea)
I shall divide it to 4 parts so that it's neater. Army always emphasis of being neat and orderly.

1st section: UO and paint ball
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First day back in camp and we are already going outfield, it was a morale down puller (Did I just created a new English term?)
UO is Urban Operations in short, and it teaches you how to act when fighting in a place with constructed dwellings.
My commanders always like to say, "Even my grandmother can do this." and in this case.. my grandmother really can do this, that is if she is still alive. Hope she is doing well on the other side of the world.
What you do is just pointing your gun at different direction while walking through building with an awkward stride in a 3-man formation.
But thinking back, if an outsider were to observe what we were doing; clearing and scanning the rooms and windows. He/She will prolly think that it's pretty cool and I guess I can live with that.
Straight after UO we proceed with paint ball.
It sounds fun, and one of our officer told us it is very fun, but in the end it was very not fun.
Basically we are just doing fire movement to the front again + the additional motion of getting the flag.
You prolly don't know what I am saying, but it's okay, cause you won't want to know, it's boring.
Anyway, there really isn't any paint involved, so I'm guessing it's actually pain ball; Whereby it is a pain in the ass to have to go through it.

2nd section: BIC
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BIC stands for Battle Inoculation Course.
What it does is that it simulates a battlefield scenario and fully experiencing it will.. baabaablahs.. bullshit.
IMO.. BIC should stands for Bad Idea Course.
It's only introduced 3 batches ago, and.. well.. it's a bad idea.
To me, they main thing I learnt from it would be how to wash your sandy/muddy clothes, which I have already learnt during field camp.
So yea, it's pretty pointless to me.
Nonetheless, it's a story I get to tell, and there was a funny thing that happened.
As you know (you prolly don't know) BIC makes you do alot of crawling.
Leopard crawling, they made it sound cool, but you're basically crawling like a dying worm and you are worse than one.
Anyway, when I was crawling and reaching the end, I went on garang-mode and crawled super fast (It's something I always do, when I see the finishing line I'll dash towards it)
There is actually a scientific term for it, second wind, but I'll shall touch on that when I become a scientist.
Back to the story, I crawled super fast, and I ended up kicking mud to my poor buddy who is behind and he got mud-faced.
And.. the end.. Okay, actually it's not that funny.. ='/
To sum it up, good experience but bad idea.. Let's move on to my section. (I'm from platoon 4 SECTION 3)

3rd section: Drill Competition
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Well, the drill competition is not exactly very tiring, in fact it is something that I enjoyed doing.
But it was so rushed that it took away all the rest time we supposed to have.
It was supposed to be on next Wednesday, but for some reason, it became this Friday.
And the information was only given this Wednesday.
Army is just fucked up, they ask you to be thinking soldiers, but they themselves think not.
We can only suck thumb, one thing you'll learn in army and say at least 20 times throughout your camp life.
The drill competition was actually quite a good experience for me, I like how I feel when I stand in the file and contributing to the company who has trained me to become a soldier.
Sounds pretty dumb I know, but it's true. I've become attached to the place I called home for 7 weeks.
I really enjoyed the practises, rehearsals and morale boosting time done by our commanders.
There is this famous action that was born during our preparation time together, and we do it so often now, that I feel it's so damn cool. It goes like this..

You put your right hand on your left chest, then strike it out into Nazi salute position and shout out "confirm!". It means confirm we will win the drill competition. There was this time where we keep doing it, and one of our commanders said, "Hey! I don't want to see Nazi army over here!". I laughed.

Anyway, the Drill Competition was over, and our commanders was really happy with our results.
They told us we scored the most points for the competition.
But that does not means we won it, because the Drill Competition has always been a very Kelong thing.
Which sucks, but 3SGT Darwis said, "In my heart, you guys have already won. So it doesn't matter whether we win it or not, CONFIRM!" and then we all do the confirm thing together, can't stop emphasising how cool it is.
After he said that, although I still feel sour at the thought of an possible unfair result, I could felt the glory of being a Ulysses warrior.

4th Section: Road March
==================

It's called road march but it really is just...
walking.. (Shaqness level:  ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰)
a very long distance.. (Shaqness level:  ★ ★ ✰ ✰ ✰)
in an uncomfortable attire (Shaqness level:  ★ ★ ★ ✰ ✰)
with a very heavy load (around 15kg)... (Shaqness level:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★)
So yesterday I did my 16km walking-a-very-long-distance-in-an-uncomfortable-attire-with-a-very-heavy-load and it was shaq TTM.
I think the march would have been pretty okay if I hadn't feel sick.
I had the feeling of vomiting throughout the march, and in the last 1km I vomited.
~~It is again due to the fail planning of army.. Our lunch was 1230, and they give us an early dinner at 1515 before marching off at 1630.~~
I felt so bloated at that time (I ate a lot because I want to stop losing weight).
With the S-size ILBV I wore compressing my body, and the quick pace walking that twirl the entities in my stomach, I felt nausea with every heavy step I took, (it's literally heavy).
Oh well, I managed to get through it and I should stop complaining about the army and take it like a soldier, so I am going to cross out the line where I expressed my dissatisfaction.
Anyway, the road march was on the assumed doomsday 211212, I survived the road march and I survived doomsday.. in Tekong.

So yea, I'm pretty sure the vomiting was the penultimate stage of my shaqness/sickness/tiredness and the last stage is this; sick at home, FML.
Actually I have a lot more things to share, but I just feel so lazy because I've been typing for more than a hour now.
West Ham match against Everton will commence in a few hours time, please let us win!
I didn't get a chance to watch any of their matches since I enlisted, I hope my virgin match-watching will make us get all 3 points. Cross my fingers and my arms for West Ham, the club I'll support till I die.
I should end it off here, but before I do, I shall give the coup de grace; BTTOTD. Ber-Tot-Dee if you forgot how to pronounce it (I've taught you the first time I introduced the section).

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Blogger the Tumblr of the day, Hell Yea!
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How do you look at someone you love and tell yourself, that it's time to walk away?

Just keep swimming.. and keep swimming.. and keep swimming..

Santa was here @ 8:57 PM

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Episode 71: Reason to not die.

Hey! Time outside Tekong is so precious, I can't believe I'm spending some of it to blog.
Anyway, let me start with a song. An army song which lyrics I changed.
But before that let me show you a picture!

Found this picture, can you make up what word they are trying to form? ='0

Today is book-in day, I am so depressed ah~
Tomorrow is field camp day, depress depressing ah~
Book-in day! Field day!
I am Lin Wei Xiang Gibson from Ulysses Company ah~!

That pretty much sums up how I am feeling right now..
Anyway, I've been in the army for around 1 month.
The experience is really unique, there are many things that you will never be able to try it somewhere else.
Like throwing a grenade, shooting a rifle, putting green and black paint on your face and hide behind a tree.
It's really god damn tiring all the time, but next day, you will think back and feel that it's rather fun.
I also get to meet a lot of new friends and share a lot of funny moments together.
You learn a lot from your sergeant, although they are just 1 or 2 years older than you.
For me, there are few things that they have said that make me contemplate hard and attempt to change myself.
They are actually very simple sentences, but its the circumstances and the shaqness you're feeling that makes the words strong when you hears it.

"Wake up your fucking idea, and throw away your civilian mindset, stop being selfish."

"In army and in life too, you have to learn to accept different people."

Other things that they always say are.. "Listen, don't blur!", "Don't act blur live longer!"

It makes me realise that the way everyone acts outside is selfish.
We only help ourselves and people we care. Why can't we just care for everyone?
Well we can't, because we are not raised to be like this. I am no different.
But in the army, we can't be like this.
Our goal is to protect the country, so every soldier is vital for winning the war.
And every civilian is of utmost importance, as they are who we are protecting.
For every action you do in the army, your should not be thinking about yourself.
You should not be thinking that doing this will increase my chance of being officer and then do it.
You must do the right thing that will be most effective and beneficial to the whole company.
By doing that, you show your leadership skills too.
I myself can't say I've achieve that.
There are many times, I think back of the things I did, and feel I could have done better if I wasn't selfish.

I wonder if you have watched "Ah Boys To Men".

It's a good movie, and an exact depiction of life in BMTC.
I think the movie itself have changed my view about army, especially the first 20mins of the movie.
Where they showed Singapore getting attacked by enemy forces.
I started thinking, if we act like how we usually act and move like how we usually move. We'll die.
Many people will die. Just like a quote from another Jack Neo movie, "You die, I die, everybody die!".
So the book-in after I watched the movie, I tried harder in every activity I participated it. True story.

Anyway that's pretty much for my army talk.
Now let's talk about life outside army, like now.
It's really a very big change.
If I were to have a girlfriend, she would be real lucky.
Saturday and Sunday, I would shower her with love.. or money..
The only downside is that I won't be there for her on weekdays.
I don't drive, but I can send a cab to her place then all around Singapore before stopping at our meeting place.
I take cab more than bus now, cause I have money but no time.
I learn how to do shopping, and how I've been doing it wrongly last time.
First stop before you go anyway should be the basement, buy all the snacks that can last your whole journey before you set off.
I like to spend more time with my family now.
I watched the "Ah Boys To Men" with them, and I wish I can catch another movie together after field camp, cause my DAD couldn't make it the other time.
It's funny how I only get $480 every month and feel so rich.
Actually I get less than that, as I've applied for 8 years Safra membership, donate to Share $7/month and have a $32/month insurance in case I die in field camp.

So yea, field camp is like BMTC hell week. (sorry I have to talk about army again)
It's the place where recruits have the highest chance of dying.
But I have a reason to not die.
The reason is you, my friends and my family.
I want to enjoy my book-out with you guys.
It's when you lost the precious things in your life for that 5 days, that you realise how much you want to cherish it within the 2 days.
I also realised that when someone means a lot to you, what you share with him/her is very special.
You can't find many people to share that bond, so when you find it you should cherish it.
And don't break it off because of some blunder or wrongdoing, because what you guys have is a lot larger.
Larger than the explosion the matador or SFG 87 can make and larger than life.

"Larger Than Life" by "Backstreet Boys", skip to 1min mark, if you want to listen to the song immediately.

So yea! All you people can you see? Can't you see?
You're larger than my life itself. So be alive, be happy and be together.
I hope I'll miraculously blog again sometime soon.
Till then, good by and in case I don't see you, good morning, good afternoon and 9 9. =')

PS: Mixpod got shut down. No songs for the time being. ='(

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Blogger the Tumblr of the day, Hell Yea!
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I don't know how it feels to be in a relationship, but I know how it feels when my friends are in one, and they are happy. I hope they are happy like this forever, so please let the people who love each other be together and happy.

Perfect relationship is when two people never give up one another, so I guess a perfect field camp is when you don't give up on yourself or any mates.

Santa was here @ 6:38 PM