sunshine please

I'm just hoping that life in camp will take a turn for the better and praying that life outside camp will be more fulfilling. Things aren't going really smoothly right now, and i'm just hoping to ride out the storm. Pray that this stormy season doesn't last for too long.

God send me a rainbow. How i long for sunny days ahead.

rest

My 4 day long weekend which started on Thursday night will officially end in about 2 hours time. It has been a fun and eventful break from NS life. Over the past few days i went out with my bunk mates for late night supper and lan-gaming, met up with other friends here and there, watched a movie or two, went shopping around and bought this shirt which reads "i don't care about this year", had dinner by the beach with my family and relatives, managed to pass 12 driving subjects, and most importantly i took the chance to rest well.

I'd be confined in camp the entire of next week due to SAFCA INDOPURA, a joint exercise between my unit and the Indonesian army, and it will be my first time being the guard commander come this Friday's duty. The coming week is gonna be rather exciting though hectic.

Recently, i'd been thinking a little about life. I've been thinking about what i want to achieve, what i expect of the future, and the means to get there. I've been thinking about the person i want to be, the image i want to portray, and the ways in which i should carry myself. I've been thinking about relationships, with my family, my friends, and with people i have yet to meet or befriend. I have decided to allow God to live through me, to work through me, and to let his will be done through me. All i pray and seek for is a peace of mind, and wisdom to do what is right and what is necessary. I pray that in all i do i do it for the glory of God, regardless of how difficult things might be. Amen

one more year

Today is a special day. One year from now, i would be a free man, i would have ORD-ed. Words alone cannot explain how much i'm looking forward to that day, 071110 :)

I went to watch the movie "paranormal activity" with my friend yesterday and when we were 90 minutes into the show i turned to him and asked "what is this all about?". It was quite a miracle i managed to stay awake throughout the entire movie.

Had dinner with a few friends at marina square after the movie. Meeting up with friends for a meal while engaging in light-hearted conversations never fails to brighten up my day. Oh and i discovered a new chill-out place at Milennia Walk. It is relatively secluded there and the ambience is beautiful, perfect for spending a quiet evening. Gotta go there one of these days.

My driving lessons are progressing well and i'm now into stage 2 of the course. Once i get my driving license i would proceed on to learn other things. Life has been quite a routine and i'm kind of tired of this lack of a sense of progress. I suppose i can only find meaning in whatever i am doing one year from now, when i'm engaged in activities which truly appeal to me.

For now, just gotta tell myself to hang in there ~

sweet

The past few days have just gone by so quickly. Met up with some friends for lunch, had a stay over at one of my army friend's house, gone shopping for some clothes, renewed my library book loan, played a lot of dota, watched a bit of tv, went for driving lessons, watched a movie, played pool and lan at bukit timah plaza, lazed around at home. It has been a sweet break from army life, especially since returning from Brunei.

Here are a few random observations i had made over the past few days.
One: All the girls who are currently in university are complaining about the workload and not being able to achieve good results despite putting in effort.
Two: Similar to a coin, every ns vocation has a flip side to it. There isn't a perfect posting, the question now is how bad yours is.
Three: Everybody needs a good laugh sometimes. I'd recommend "500 days of Summer" if you'd not watched it yet.

Till next time ~

Brunei

I'm finally back from Brunei after 18 days, of which 14 days were spent staying outfield. The trip was rather eventful, with near death encounters and literally uphill tasks.

The first few days passed by rather slowly, as i was manning a checkpoint for a navgation exercise with 2 others, a signaller and a medic. It's something like an outfield headquarter located deep within the jungle where lost souls can turn to in case of any emergency. Nothing much happened on the first 3 days, with only occasional reports about lost groups and casualties who need to be evacuated. However, i nearly lost my life on the last night when a deadfall missed me by about only a metre. In case you are wondering, the deadfall that i'm referring to is a 20m tall dead tree which almost landed right on top of me while i was fast asleep at night.

The highlight of the trip was Exercise Nomad, a 3day 2night navigation challenge, where we had to trek up and down knolls and slopes that are sometimes so steep you need to go on all fours, in full battle order. There was this incident whereby our only pathway was blocked by a snake, black and yellow in colour, and we had to cross the path with the snake merely a metre or so from us, hanging on a branch at eye level with its head facing us. That was quite a freaky experience and we were lucky that the snake did not find us a nuisance.

All in all the trip to Brunei was quite interesting though i wouldn't want to experience it again if possible. It wasn't really as bad as i thought it might be, as i had went there expecting the worst. Things like sleeping in the forest while it is raining at night, all drenched and wet and cold, cooking instant noodles to satisfy our hunger, starting campfires and chatting under the moonlit sky, refilling our bottles and drinking water from streams, these are experiences that will be difficult to forget.

Anyway, for now, i'm just glad to be back home.

breakaway

It's 2030hours, 250909, Friday, and in about 6 hours time my plane will fly off for Brunei, would be back on 131009.

This would be my first ever overseas exercise in the army, but surprisingly i'm feeling quite numb to the whole idea of going to an unfamiliar land for training. I suppose it might not be too bad a thing after all, since it provides a breakaway from the boring routine of life back in camp. Hopefully this trip will be an exciting and enriching one, and that we will all return back to Singapore safe and sound at the end of the day.

Will be missing my family and friends and the city life. Till the 13th, cya then :)

filling in the void

NS life is like a race track, you seem to find yourself going round and round aimlessly. That's why i've been trying to make my life more purposeful these days.

My driving lessons have been going on quite smoothly, having got my provisional driving license a week ago and passed my final theory evaluation earlier today. If all goes well, i should be taking my practical lessons every Sat and Sun morning starting from November. Hopefully i'd be able to get my driving license by February next year. After which i'd start on my Japanese lessons.

I've also been contemplating getting myself enrolled in a music school so that i can finally learn how to play the guitar properly. Maybe i should do that after my trip to Brunei.

Recently i've taken up the hobby of reading, which is really effective in helping me live through all the lonely nights in camp. Since my first week in 5SIR about 2 months ago, i've read about 6 books altogether. During the weekends, i'd been going out with friends playing lan games, having a meal together, catching up over coffee and watching movies. Once or twice i also went clubbing at phuture and butterfactory.

Reading all the blog posts by my friends in university and in other NS vocations left me thinking about how our lives change and very soon we'll all find ourselves on very different routes in life. No longer are we all on the same track of O Levels or A Levels where everyone seemed to be striving towards a common goal. After NS and after university we'll all be starting out on career in the various industries, some of us might be working overseas while others locally. It would be inevitable that we lose contact with many of our previously closer friends. Even if we do keep in touch, people change, and so we will find ourselves drifting apart as our common beliefs and interests fade away.

So for now, enjoy the present and treasure the memories of the past. Life is all about forging new memories, and our memories are what define us.