Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

Happy New Year!!!

2006, and my little cousins are still lively as ever. =) They are the ones who really liven the atmosphere for me. But a year or two more, and they are off to school, where they will learn to be more disciplined. There goes their senseless screaming with glee and endless runs in the house.

My elder cousins are 25+, just starting their careers. Which is just nice, I hope. They'd better get married asap, haha, otherwise where to find kids to mess the house up?

I'm getting ready to relinquish my tasks in my unit. I feel that I fully deserve a break, which I hope my superiors have similar sentiments. Hopefully I can finish the process in due course successfully.

Angel or not, it'd take at least a year or two to find out... Too hasty and one messes things up.

8th is standing down lol....

Very soon, we'll handing over our responsibility as the first operational platoon to 9th. After which, the drivers will concentrate on their driving commitments, while the rest should, most probably, start planning their post-NS lives, ie overseas trips, temp jobs, uni courses, scholarships etc.

Nostalgic? Yes, i guess everyone will be. Personally, I'll always remember the literally asthmatic, suffocating, fiery training times that we have endured during training; not forgetting the twists and turns that I had to manoeuvre as part of my peacetime orbat. Though sometimes I had to persevere on my own, I'm grateful for whatever assistance the others had provided. So as to ensure that all our effort were not to be wasted, I will try to ensure a smooth transition to my understudy. After that, nothing should be in our hands, anymore.

True, 8th will no longer be together. Some lucky ones may be studying in the same university in future, or even better, in the same faculty or hostel. But I'm sure that our friendship has been tried and tested, and this bond will never be forgotten. Just like all other good memories, they are meant to be kept, and locked away, somewhere deep in my mind. And I carry on with life, in pursuit of more good memories; to be kept, and locked away.

Savor the good times, in search of the many more to come.

Reflections 2005

We're already two weeks into 2006, and I truly feel that this is going to be an exciting year! But before the excitement drowns my senses, let me take a look at year 2005.

On the whole, 2005 is the first year in my life whereby my occupation is not officially a student. I'm a soldier for the entire year! This is when I realise how comfortable my past learning environment has been.

For years, I had been fortunate enough to have so many caring and patient teachers to guide me through the rigorous academic programme. Yet in SAF as a "L" plate driver, the verbal taunts and abuse by the driving instructor are provacative, if encouraging at all. Their actions only spur me on to prove them wrong, that I can complete the course and get my license deservedly. So much for negative motivation. Although I must admit the instructor's driving skills are admirable, his style of teaching is never commendable. If not for my persistence and determination to excel in driving, I'm afraid I'd have just given up half-way. Why must I subject myself to this verbal torture? Just pay a few thousands bucks to learn civilian driving then. The "price" of a free civilian license.

And I got "Best Driver Trainee" award at the end of the course. Though the reasons behind the selection are never disclosed, I wasn't keen at that point of time to know too. I just wanted the course to end, return to the Force, and start to work towards earning my civilian license. That's the ultimate aim, otherwise all my efforts would have mostly gone to waste. The award was perhaps because someone appreciated the effort I had put in learning, despite the mental torture. Maybe. But definitely not due to my driving skills, as there are course-mates who are more apt at driving than me.

Initially I felt that the award was a curse, because the 7th MT spec saw the recipient who should be his successor. I was vehemently against that arrangement. Yes, it's true that MT Spec is most likely to get his civilian license. However, the kind of workload that he gets is something that I don't look forward to. I take pleasure in driving, not in assigning the drivers to various work, liasing with others regarding transport resources etc. Perhaps it's the after-effect of the driving course. In the end, my encik somehow also agreed that I'm not the proper choice for the job, and I became Medical Suppy Spec then.

Horrors. The 7th Med Supply Spec, or "Drug Spec" had suspectedly some missing Sch III drugs. His excuse was that Spec II course took up most of his time. Luckily, after a few months, it turned out that only about two items were missing. However that period of time was frustrating, simply because I was seemingly doing most of what he's supposed to be doing, yet he's on 8 to 5 most of the time. And then he decided that he's gonna take charge of things one last time, brushed my work aside without regards, and did things another way instead. Perhaps at that time, he's clearing leave and off, and he'd only got just enough time to pull himself out of trouble.

What has happened is all in the past. Soon, it'd be my turn to hand over to 9th. I'm adament that nothing of this sort will happen again. It'd be unfair to the incoming specialist.

Oh yes that's Spec II too and my first ever ambulance and hospital attachment! Really fulfilled one of my childhood dreams: to be in an emergency vehicle responding to people's calls for help.

Looking back at my blog posts throughout 2005, I can safely say that I've put in a great amount of effort into maintaining my social circle. As William observes, I've been present for all the outings, just like Wanxin, Mingli etc (Really???) But this kind of effort has to be sustained, and not just for a year or so only. One year of conscious effort has brought about, well, ok benefits; at least I still have contact with them ya?? Haha that's what all's about perhaps.

So much about the military. Am I labelled a "boy" if I keep talking about the military, but a "man" only if I talk about oh how I have started working and into relationships, getting married etc. That's why we are called "army boys" and some others are called "uni men". Is that so? I pretty sure I'm not being childish. I'm doing something meaningful.

Other meaningful things I've achieved? Contact has been maintained with my angel. But it has been sporadic, and hence frustrating at times. Waiting in vain for response sometimes. At best probably 2-3 weeks? If not, 1-1.5 month =P Haha I'd probably go mad if status quo continues ha I'd better stop thinking of such details then. The more I take it to heart, the more frustrated I get, though nobody's to blame at all. Miracles happen when one least expects them.

Ok I've overcome some challenges in year 2005, maintained status quo in some others, and failed in the rest. More challenges to come in 2006, and the coming years in fact.

May the lucky stars watch over me as I fight on, as usual.

New Year 2006!!

Very quickly, I've eased into the new year. During NDP 05 standby, I saw a long line of people on Sheares Bridge, eagerly awaiting the fireworks. Envious, I promised myself that I'd be there watching fireworks one day too.

Never did I expect myself to fulfil this wish right before the year ends. The fireworks for New Year Countdown was spectacular, but I think the best view should be at Merlion Park or Esplanade Bridge. I think that fireworks display is like live animation on a gigantic flat TV screen, plus the crowd and music; I mean the actual screen seems to be two-dimensional. On the Sheares Bridge, my "screen" was as high as the sky is, but the width is rather narrow. On New Year's Day, when I saw the picture taken by a Lianhe Zaobao photographer, his "screen" as viewed from Esplanade Bridge was just as high, but many times wider.

Anyway next time maybe a hotel suite to watch the fireworks??