The Post which Will Come Through The Sides

Weekend once again, which is a real blessing.





Two days passed in MSET course. It isn't as slack as I thought it would be but some of the lessons are worth listening to. It's mostly basic maintenance for normal vehicles, which I will be hoping to be useful to rescue damsels in distress in the future. LOL

The travelling time and cost from my place to Sembawang is atrocious. 6 bucks back and forth each day! Lucky it's a two week course only.








I just came back from a tennis and block 85 treat with Audrey Chengliang and Alvin. Tennis is seriously quite fun, from a beginner's point of view.

Alvin, having boundless amounts of energy, decided to send two tennis balls out of the court. Never to be seen again I guess. I think we'll ask him to buy and supply some balls next time.

Shall look forward to next week's tennis session. Although I'm not suppose to run and stuff. But as usual, out of camp, there is no such thing as excuse RMJ and PES C. Haha..





Still stuck on the 5x5x5 Rubix cube! It's been 2 weeks already. Haha I have no idea why but I want to complete it badly. Wish me luck!

The Post which Was Caught Pissing

It's midweek Wednesday and we begin another post of complaints and upcoming events.






Drove from Changi to Pasir Leba Camp today to send some stuff and I saw SAFTI MI and SISPEC for the very first time.

I remember being very "garang" when I first enlisted, harbouring the intentions and wishes of getting into a command school and being a seargent or a Sir!

But well, things don't always work the way we want them to, now that my first time arriving in the camp is a driver. Haha, but I couldn't ask for a better alternative vocation I guess.





It's been a month since my return to Changi, but now I'm heading back to Sembawang Camp once again for the MSET course.

I don't really have an idea of what it is. I heard it's about vehicle repairs and maintenance, and then my senior told me MSET stood for Mostly Sleep Eat Talk. Not bad! LOL

Compared to OETI- Only Eat Talk and Idle, I don't think it's as relaxed but I'll appreciate any slack moments for the next two weeks anyway =).






Last weekend was spent playing pool and DoTA with GAYS, which consists of Chengliang Renjie Yongliang and Jiaqing. Alike to CoDG, the etymology of the name GAYS has a deep history which is highly classified! Haha.

Hoping that there's a chance to go jamming this weekend. Haven't played music for a really long time so I'm looking forward to it!

The Post which Was On the Wrong Lift

Busy busy week.





After my dreamlike holiday over the past weekend, Tuesday began hellishly for me.

Passed a few more driving assessments, and now I'm a driver ready for details out on my own. My first would-be driving detail nearly end up in disaster! Behind the scenes complication as usual, let's not talk about it.

While my work isn't really difficult, it's boring and tiring sometimes. Loads of waiting, not much things that really challenge me. But I'm happy when people are grateful there are drivers to send them around.

Work satisfaction man! Yeah..... right.





Another interesting day, where my April intake BMT friends got their posting. Sinkiat got into OCS! I wonder what it would be like if he becomes an officer in Tekong and is my 2nd Lieutenant in my recourse company.

"Permission to knock it down Kiat! I mean Sir!"

Hanwei got into OETI, that lucky bastard. Jiahui got into recce. 0706 lads got all sorts of vocations. Haha.

And the coolest bit was Alvin getting posted into Airforce. I'm not sure what his vocation is. But certainly not combat though! I'd hate to think that our airspace is protected by the likes of him. LOL





If you think about it, Chengliang is in the SAF, I'm in the Navy and Alvin is in the Airforce. Hey CoDG covers the entire defense of Singapore! Haha..






Gotta sleep earlier cause I need to head back to camp tomorrow for work. Sigh.

The Post who Will Never Walk Alone

Friday Saturday Sunday was a blast!





Friday was on leave, had to go to NUH for an annual medical appointment for my kidneys. It's in Specialist Clinic A, which are actually for kids but I've been there since young so I haven't been transferred out.

Turns out my kidneys are alright! Which is a huge relief each year. But some other problems cropped up so I'll need to head back to NUH again next month.

Meet up with Aaron the storeman of Selerang camp at Pasir Ris and ate dinner at his place. His family always whip up a good fare whenever I happen to come over, so I'm some kinda freeloader over there.

Ah well, old habits die hard. LOL





Saturday was a huge rush around too!

I was staying at home, waiting for my seargent to call me and report back to camp for vehicle orientation. But I waited for quite long, then he called and I had to rush to Parkway Parade.

Met Junping on the way! Haha, was quite shocked when she called me. Then my seargent said, "Wah your girlfriend caught you in somewhere you not supposed to be ah?"

"No la!"





Drove till quite late and my seargent dropped me off at PP again (he happens to live at Amber Close which was near by) and I met the CCHMS gang for dinner.

Had a route march, yes I'm serious it was a route march, from PP all the way to Jumbo Seafood Restaurant. Hell it was quite a walk. But Andre Alvin Yongliang Chengliang Audrey were all there to make up banter and the walk more tolerable!

We ordered 2 chilli crabs and loads of rice. Really excellent meal! Haha, but a word of advice, go there with shorts and bermudas, not like the pants and jeans we did. It was really hot in there, accompanied by a terrible birthday tune.

You will know what I mean when you go there next time. Haha.

After that, we went around taking pictures (haven't got them yet) and celebrated our birthday with Audrey's peach confection. Received our presents and went home happy with our tummies full.





Sunday was Father's Day so I went out in the morning to eat and then went over to Chengliang's place. Chilled a bit and went over to Cityhall, which we were predictably late. =D

Ate at Ministry of Food after the remonstrations of Winne against Genki Sushi. But it turned out to be a good choice, cause the desserts were excellent!

Met Hanwei for the first time since his enlistment, and he looks as manly, if not more, as ever. LOL. It's real nice meeting him. Hope he gets posted to be a driver too!


















The load of us. Reuben has to book in (we all go through it pal!) and a few others couldn't make it but I appreciate the thoughts and the wishes. =)


















One for the pictures. We had to pretend we were wishing for something for the cameras in front of our Power Ranger cakes. Haha.


















The two soon-to-be birthday boys. Brothers forever man!


















The others lads ain't happy it's our birthdays.


















Don't worry you lot, it will be your turn soon so we'll look like this when it comes!


















A Stevie Gerrard Autobiography which the CCHMS people got me. A good read, and nicely autographed by them on the left page. I got the 0706 to sign it on the right for me.


















A nearly perfect birthday card. Nearly, because of a slight blemish at the end of the card by a certain friend. LOL























Moving onto new challenges, 0706 folks threw a 5x5x5 Rubix Cube in my face. Woah!
























Thanks for everybody who has made these four days fun filled and enjoyable for me. Another shout out to people who sent their well wishes (I hope I replied to each and everyone of them) and for the presents as well.

Most importantly, it's the company that mattered. The secondary school friends, 0706 people, and later the volleyball friends, made all this possible. Loads of love!





Still on leave today cause I didn't feel like working today. Haha, will meet the volleyball people later for dinner.

Hope that I wouldn't have a post party hangover when life resumes tomorrow. LOL





Once again, thanks and good week all!

The Post which Took the Oath and Lived It

Alright my post today is not a cheerful one.





Over the past 2-3 days, I'm sure many of us have read or heard news about the 2 NSFs who have passed away in their training while serving their nation.

One of them was OCT Clifton Lam, now a 2LT posthumously, and he was a friend of my sister who studied in Temasek Polytechnic and a programmer under her group.

It's strange when people go around saying "Hey your army is now so slack and safe, it's not even like training!" when this kind of news still go out and it happens.

It's even more strange when you know that the person who passed away are young men in their prime, with their lives ahead of them and you wonder what went wrong.






I received a SMS from my sister the next morning when Clifton passed away, telling me to be safe when I'm doing my stuff. So I thought what was the problem, until I heard the sad news.

I don't personally know these two soldiers, but we all wear the same shade of green, we serve and work for the same purpose, so I can't help but feel sincerely sorry and sympathise for their plight.

So NSF and NS men, take care in whatever you do. As we always put it, safety first!






My sympathies to the two men and their families.

The Post who Is Finally On the Board

Midweek crisis over!





It's been a busy 3 days in camp. Got a little taste of what a driver's life would be like ahead of me. I didn't do much driving but was a Vehicle Commander (big fanciful name for the guy next to the driver LOL) for a few details and it was already tiring enough.

And it's going to be a week or two until my boss comes back from his course. Oh the horror..








But it's been good to go out and try to interact with the senior drivers one on one. I feel that I get to know and be closer to other people this way.

At first I thought that I would be too different from the rest of the drivers and will be some sort of castaway between the drivers and STOs, but it seems that as time goes by, we are all men and NSFs anyway, and we all will get along fine soon enough.

Good news also arrived when newly posted drivers and storemen will arrive in my unit, making it a livelier place than it is now. Fresh blood certainly can't hurt I guess =D





One more day of work before my long leave. Or so I thought!

My contemplation of a NS free 4 days was badly interrupted when my transport supervisor told me to come back on Saturday for vehicle orientation. My first thought was like:

"WAH!! WHAT THE @)#(*@%"

But work is work. No choice I suppose. Sigh..






Hoping for a peaceful Thursday to mark things out smoothly.

The Post who Got Pinched Quite Some Time Ago

Alright first up I'll talk about last Saturday night!
















For some strange reason, this picture took its own sweet time to upload.

Anyway it was Shiyun's birthday party on that evening (her actual birthday is tomorrow but she planned it for the NSFs haha) so we took off to her place at Eunos.

First thought in my head was, her house is fricking big! Even her toilet is as big as my room!

It's a pretty relaxed evening, which we spent most of the time mingling around with folks we know and chatting about JC life and how most of us were doing.

There was pretty good observation Wengseng made: NS men talk about NS when they are in civilian life, and talk about their civilian life when they are doing their NS. Weird but very true. I guess we have no life. LOL






On Sunday I went out to play basketball as usual with some of the 0706 folks. We went to Bedok CC instead of our usual Siglap hideout because we thought it was going to rain. I actually went to the NEA website to check for weather forecast!

In the end, it didn't rain. Not a single drop of water. Never trust the Singapore weather forecast.

In any case, it was quite fun cause for the first time the girls joined us to play against strangers and it was a good experience for the girls mainly. =D

After that Sinkiat and I played against a few other strangers, which was the more serious and "hiong" kind of basketball. Clashed in midair with another guy and rammed my fist against my chest (takes a little imagination to know what I mean) and now it bloody hurts. Sigh.







It's a Monday, and it's a good Monday cause I got quite a few things achieved. Most important was to get my leave settled so I can ensure my Friday and next Monday is free.

That leaves me with a 4 day work week for 2 weeks! =D






4 days without DoTA already. Let's see how long I can last. Haha..

The Post which Has Four Deadly Wheels

Alright, I haven't been posting with my laptop being reformatted, but now it's back and better!





A pretty peaceful week with loads of work to do. First was the attending of a prize ceremony to collect an award that I didn't even know I had.

Turns out that our boss did some quizzes on our behalf and submitted in our names, so we were the lucky ones who got the prize!

When I was asked to go, my first impression was loads of half-hearted clapping and sitting down in an auditorium and listening to speeches/

But man, Navy has to do things differently. They had this cohesion at the Central Specialist Mess (which is next to the sea), and had buffets and drinks going around in an air conditioned room, so my friend and I spend the next 3 hours relaxing. LOL

But most of the prize winners were majors and captains and lieutenant-colonels, so when they called my name "Recruit Liow!", I could feel everyone staring at me like I'm some small kid. Sigh.





Then, it was massize area cleaning for the week for the arrival of a VVIP. The lengths we went to show off was unbelievable.

But for our efforts, we were given an earlier fall out yesterday. With pretty much no work to do, you could say it was a perfect Friday!






Next week is the Passing Out Ceremony for many of my April intake recruit friends, and I guess they have been through a lot to become fully fledged privates.

But I'm still stuck as a recruit, so I wonder when will be the time I will be summoned back to complete my BMT in the wonderful shores of Tekong. Sigh..

Then again, I'm pretty much enjoying my life now as a driver (until the workload piles up I guess) so not much complains there.






It's the weekend and I'm stuck between going for 0706 celebration or Shiyun's birthday. Choices and choices.

The Post which Has to Face the Truth

Monday blues once again as we begin another loooong week of work. Sigh..





It's funny why we moan and groan on each Monday when we have to go to work. In fact I read on TIMES magazine that, majority of people are most unhappy on their way to work on Monday.

Quite an interesting fact that we experience each week, but it's now verified and put on paper. So go to hell Mondays!

Now, it's even made worse cause we went home late today due to some incident in work which I shouldn't talk about.

Mysterious NS. Or not. Haha.















On a very unrelated note, I've completed the 4x4x4 Rubix cube on Saturday!

It's really quite difficult compared to the other 2 cubes but the satisfaction is right up there when you finish it. Hahaha =)

I'm now a proud owner of 3 cubes. Perhaps I should add on to my collection of cubes at the end of the year by buying myself another 5x5x5 cube.





Hoping not to get confined this weekend cause of events going on. Although I got this ominous feeling..