The Post which is All About You

In the past few years, I have been fond of writing long posts on the last day of the year. They are usually about the people I've met and the things I've done over the course of twelve months.

This year it's a little different. Not only am I late in posting this up (was working at Starhub), I will be talking about a concept, which basically summed up my year.

It's called the Chaos Theory.























The Chaos Theory is an area of inquiry in physics, mathematics and philosophy, studying the behaviour of dynamic systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions.

Basically, this means that small differences in initial conditions of a situation can cause huge differences in outcomes, making long term prediction impossible in general.

For example, you can put a small ball on the top of the hill, but which direction it rolls towards is determined by hundreds of small, individual factors.

This theory is encapsulated in the popularly known metaphor, the Butterfly Effect, which I also mentioned sometime ago in the past.





In 2008, I enlisted into the army. I could have gone into Tekong in April with most of my friends, yet instead I enlisted in early January.

I could have completed my BMT, became an officer, seargent or medic, but I became a driver, much to everyone's surprise.

Many months later, my immediate seniors in my unit were about to ORD. A group of them briefly considered to extend their service term, which also meant that I would never have been an ambulance driver, but I did.

In June 2009, orders from HQ came and between two ambulance drivers, one had to selected as a NDP driver. There was a huge debate and discussion, and my buddy was briefly considered, but in the end I got the nod.

In October, I planned my last duties and my leave. I almost had to do one more week of duty, but last minute training of my replacement meant that I was free from 26th onwards.

Instead of having duty, I went home that day. I wanted to play basketball with Sinkiat late that day, but he had other plans, so I decided to pay you a visit, because you had a bad day.





Those are seemingly random events, which could have easily gone any other way. But little did I know, they all added up and pointed to a direction, and that was to you.





I spent my last 5 minutes of the New Year, in revelation and amusement of this fact.

It seems amazing to me. It's like the universe in a huge machine, and these events are small intricate parts of the machine, all working constantly to make sure you end up where you're supposed to be, doing what you're supposed to do.

Some people call it fate, some people call it destiny, some people call it God's will, and personally I just think of it as a script that we are meant to follow, to go through the motions, like tiny cogs and gears pushing the hands of a clock along.





I realise I often make the mistake of counting down too much. Counting down to the next book out, counting down to university life, counting down the end of my tiring shifts at work, counting down to the next time I see my family and friends.

But perhaps instead of counting down to the future, or thinking about the past, I should concentrate on the present instead.

There are so many things and so many people, constantly interacting, brushing past and intertwining, that it almost seems like a waste that I haven't been paying enough attention to them.





So my New Year Resolution will be a simple one, and that is to be more appreciative to things happen around me, complain less and to live in the moment.

I want to thank everyone, my family, my friends and my relatives who were there for me. I can't list your names and contributions individually, because I want to do justice to your influence and to the things you have did to prod me along.

And as always, one small exception to you girl. =)





Wishing everyone a happy 2010!





Best wishes from the owner of aquietcoffee.blogspot.com,
Xiujie

The Post which is a Soft Kitty

Dear Santa,

It's been a crazy year and one wild ride! Now it's the time for giving again, and seeing the good boy I've been, please grant me these wishes!





Places I want to go someday:


















1) Taiwan
2) Anfield
3) France
4) Koh Samui

Cars I want to drive someday:


















1) BMW Z4
2) Audi S6
3) Chervolet Corvette

Occupations that I would want to do if I can turn back time:














1) US Navy SEAL
2) Criminal Psychologist
3) NBA basketball star
4) Movie actor/stand up comedian/famous TV show host

Food that I can make appear out of nowhere so I can eat them anytime I want:




















1) Strawberry ice cream
2) Xiao long baos
3) Shepherd pies
4) Cheese omelettes

Famous people who will give me exclusive passes so I can visit them sometime:






















1) Xabi Alonso
2) Steve Nash
3) Jackie Chan
4) Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
5) Backstreet Boys

Shows that will guest-star me somehow:

















1) FRIENDS
2) The Big Bang Theory
3) How I Met Your Mother

Totally materialistic things that I would buy if you gave me US$1 million:






















1) A nice house by the beach
2) A hundred iPhones so I can give them away on a whim
3) My own swimming pool, jacuzzi, with an artificial sun and breeze for tanning (not possible but still..)

Presents that you gave me this year already:
1) My family
2) My friends
3) My ORD
4) and you! =)



















Well I think it's been a long tough year for everyone, with all the army stuff, work, studies and other commitments. It's finally time to let down our hair, enjoy the festive season, and spread the joy and cheer around!

So here's wishing everyone, an early Merry Christmas! =D

The Post which is Oscar Mike

Finally went back to the Singapore River!





I spent my two months there during my stint in NDP, manning the Navy Medical Post 5 with my medic friends. Two hot sweltering months with the sun beating mercilessly down on our defenseless green tents has made a good enough impression for me to stop going back there.

In the few months I never went back to the spot. Even sometimes when I go to Raffles Place, Clarke Quay and other places around the area, I generally refrain from going back there again.





Just a few days back, I finally headed back to the exact same place where we pitched our tents during those months.

I remember this exact bench, facing the Asian Civilisation Museum just across the river. It was my favourite bench actually. I used to sit there, around 10pm on each of those terrible Saturdays, mentally ticking off one rehearsal, and counting down to the end of NDP.





Last week after work I finally went back to exact same spot. I stared once again at the Museum just across the river, just like I did months back. I look at the where the tents used to be, right in front of O'Briens (now it's some other cafe) and I can still remember the sight of the bored medics, fiddling around and playing PSPs in their sweatstained red NDP shirts.

The only difference is that, I was no longer in uniform, I was in a much better mood, and I definitely had much better company.

And also, this time I finally walked over the bridge right in front of Fullerton Hotel, saw the pretty lights, enjoyed the breeze (so elusive during the NDP days for some reason).





Literally and metaphorically on the other side of the river I guess. Haha.

The Post with the Tomatoes and Potatoes

Woke up this morning and realise there's a little more than 2 months left only.

What a horrible feeling.





I won't hesistate, no more, no more.
This is our fate.
I'm sure,
There's no need to complicate.
Our time is short.
This is our fate, I'm yours.





Very applicable song here. Haha.

The Post with the Flipping Hams

Okay so now I've got a new job at Starhub!





Today is my 5th day of work of data entry. Basically I go into the office, plop my ass down on a chair and get comfortable. For the next 8.5 hours you will see me hacking mercilessly away at a computer, plowing through endless online application forms for mobile phone numbers.

As you can imagine, it's hardly inspiring or exciting stuff. So far the most interesting thing that happened was when...

Okay, really nothing happened. Sigh.





The worst thing is that, it's shift work (yes I know, why on earth will data entry have shift work?) and I've got work on Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year Eve and New Year.

I definitely did not sign up for this!

Have to make sacrifices here and there I guess. It's a bit like.. getting bitten by loads of mosquitoes for the greater good! Haha

The Posts with the Two Closed Eyes

Wedding's over!





The marriage of my sister Xiuwen and Ken took place on 28th November 2009. It was a fun day, a hectic day, a touching day, and definitely a memorable day.

As I mentioned on the previous post, I've been to quite a few weddings, all of them of my elder cousins' marriages. They have been simple affairs; arrive in the morning and eat, arrive at night and eat.

But that was when I was younger, and had close to nothing to do other than chomp down on the sumptuous meals. This time round, it's very much different and I was glad to be part of the crew to make sure the day went smoothly.





The wedding solemnisation and dinner was held at a lovely restaurant Peony Jade, just by Clarke Quay. We arrived at about 6pm, started to get the things sorted out.

And mind you, there were some last minutes problems here and there alright. But I was pretty sure nothing will take the attention away from the marriage of the lovely couple.





I know I'm not exactly the most stoic person around, and I admit there were a few tears in my eyes when I saw my sister walk down the aisle in the white gown, with Ken by her side.





I think not many people can say that they are super close to their siblings, so I'm proud to say that I am with my two sisters. We grew up in a tight knit family, through some very difficult times, and there's pretty much nothing we don't share and help each other on.

Having my sister move out of the house we've been residing together for years feels a little different. Maybe that's how it was like for them during the extended periods when I'm not around because of NS.





People move on from friendships, from relationships, from one workplace to another and so on. But I think it's very difficult to move on from kinship, and even as my sister moves on to start a new family, she's still very much part of mine. =)

The Post with the Triangular Hammock

The rainy season seems to have abated (temporarily at least) and it seems that my fortunes are to turn for the better.




The past few days have been mostly cleaning up and packing up my house, in preparation for my sister's wedding.

It's no easy feat. Think of an ordinary HDB flat, with normal stuff like sofas, nice cabinets, dining table, lava lamps that give off a nice homey feeling.

That's not what my house is like.

It's a cross between a mini factory with a production line, warehouse with boxes and parts of machines and components thrown in.

My dad brings his work home. I have no complaints, having grown up in such environments since I was six. But cleaning up is no joke, especially when you're entertaining around 30 odd guests in a few days time.





I've been to my fair share of weddings. I have a huge extended family, with many older cousins who are already married and have their own families, which also explains all my lovely nephews and nieces.

But this time it's my own sister, and I'm old enough to be involved in some parts here and there, rather than just to turn up for the wedding dinner.

Would love to talk more about it, but got another interview to prepare!





On a completely unrelated note, sun tans are great. Haha.

The Post which is Lo Hei

Random picture: Chow chow is officially the cutest breed of dogs on my list.





Anyway, it's nine days since I finished NS and I'm still unemployed. I have no idea why I'm so restless.





I guess I'm always eager to get things done, and I'm not really good at being patient when there is no end result in sight.

I think many of us look for the dream job. Well, everyone has their own definition. "Get laid and get paid" sounds like a good one (heard that from a sitcom actually so don't think I'm a pervert) but I don't think that's actually possible for me. Haha.

The easy way out would be a decent paying 8-to-5 desk job, probably facing computers and preferably less supervisors to answer to. Believe me, I tried that direction but it ain't easy.

Maybe I looking at this the wrong way: gotta take it easy and look slowly. A good job is worth waiting for, and perhaps it's just around the corner.





Had a relevation just today. I'm used to being in the army, I don't know how to react when people appear to be nice but are thinking otherwise. At least in the army, there's an outlet for you to be honest when you can openly shout vulgarities and show your disdain.

The outside world is much more scarier than it seems. Hm.

The Post which is Sunflower or a Guitar

My NS journey wasn't the one I expected to be.





Nonetheless it was a really fun one. It's full of twists and turns, highs and lows, ups and downs (I can go on forever here), and honestly I wouldn't have traded it for another one.

I've seen on Facebook, where quite a few of my friends have put up their badges and qualifications. Officer ranks, marksmanship badges, overseas exercises. I'll be very open and say that, unlike many of my friends, I barely had any accolades to show off.

Sometimes I feel a little resentful about that fact, but I guess you can't always get the best of both worlds, and in my case I had a wonderful time in CNMC and Changi Naval Base.

So I managed to put up a small collection of photos, which were dug out from various locations and spanning over the 1 year and 10 months of my National Service.























At Pasir Ris Bus Interchange, just before enlistment. Xiuhui had exams that day, so she couldn't go to Tekong for a look.



















After my 16 day confinement, I managed to reach back home, tired, botak and very happy to be back in my cosy hut.




















Packing up for my first book in, possibly the shittiest moment right after enlistment.





















The tag that steered the course of my NS well away from my plans. I OOTed from Tekong BMT.

What most people didn't know was that, I was originally posted as a storeman in my Tekong company. In the end there was some mix up (not uncommon in the SAF) and I landed up as a driver in the Navy instead.




















I didn't manage to take any pictures for my driving course, recourse BMT and my time as a Navy driver. So fast forward a lot, it was NDP 2009. Eight weeks of fully burnt weekends, which lead to many days of off-in-lieus that I never managed to clear.




















My tenure in CNMC was probably the best time I had. Loads of fun and nice people whom I got along brilliantly with. Many nights of nonsense, PSPs and laughter. To be honest I was a little sad to leave.




















A collection of the little items I keep packed in my No.4 uniform at all times.

My driver's handbooks, my dearest army phone (with a keychain from Taiwan haha), my army tags, 11b, camp pass, my lowly lance-corporal rank, my formation badge and my blue beret.

Coincidentally, the Navy beret is also the same shade of blue. So when we swapped formations, I just chucked away the Navy crest. LOL




















My long awaited reunion with my pink I/C, which was painfully ripped away from me a long time ago. As you can see, I'm a happy man. Haha.





In my time, I've met a lot of people, mostly people I drove for. Seasoned warrant officers, fresh sergeants, recruits running amok, the funniest medics, nice regulars and not-so-nice ones too.

There are so many faces I've seen, it's impossible to remember and it seems like a blur to me. But I know everyone had a story to tell at some point of time.

I always listened, I always commented, and I always learnt. Army folks have a propensity to share, and you will be surprised at how much you can get from listening to someone else's story.





So, thank you everyone, whom I've met along the way, for being gracious souls, for teaching me so much about life.

And finally...

ORD LO! =D

The Post which Has to Join a New Club

I spent Wednesday to Friday job-hunting.





Now, rather than to just rely on internet searches, I decided to go on the ground, together with Aaron, to look for jobs manually. That is, walk around shopping malls, look at each shop to enquire for job vacancies.

Although it seems rather unorthodox, you will be surprised at how many shops are looking for assistants. I presume that the notices for job vacancies can always be found, as long as you look hard enough.

It's also a very humbling experience. The feeling of looking at shops, one by one, walking around till your feet are tired. But I kind of embrace it as a exciting, adventurous time where anything seems possible.


















Meanwhile, I also tried out tchoukball for the first time today!

Tchoukball is rather unheard of in Singapore I guess. That's according to me. Haha. But it's true, I think it's not exactly a mainstream sport, the rules are few but it's certainly not an easy game.

Click here for more information!





Honestly, I barely did anything. My stamina was pit bottom, I haven't been sweating that much in a long while, my legs were burning and I had to leave early before the game even started. Haha.

But in a way it was really cool to pick up a sport from scratch. It reminds me of the times when I was still a greenhorn in volleyball and had to work my way up. Although I highly doubt I'll spend that much time in tchoukball.

Time to nurse those bruises on my knees and my aching calves. Oh boy, I'm too old for this stuff.





And it's Sunday.

Tomorrow is my ORD.

Even though it seems unlikely, there's another part of my life that I am as happy about as with my ORD. =D

The Post with the Millionaire

Watched How I Met Your Mother and I came across another quote which I really liked.





The great moments in your life may not be necessarily the things you do. They will also be the things that happen to you.

Now I'm not saying that you can't take action to affect the outcome of your life. You HAVE to take action, and you will.

But never forget, that any day, you can step out your front door and your whole life can change forever.

You see kids, the universe has a plan, and that plan is always in motion. A butterfly flaps its wings, and it starts to rain.

It's a scary thought, but it's also kinda wonderful. All these little parts of the machine, constantly working, making sure you end up exactly where you're supposed to be, exactly when you're supposed to be there.

The right place, the right time.






I like the sound of it.

I realise my journey in these two years have been nothing short of a surprise. It's full of ups and downs, and definitely not the way I envisioned it to be, before I enlisted.

The quote somehow represents the way I'm feeling now. I have a sense of comfort and ease that all things happen for a reason, whether you mean for it to or not.





Recently I took a leap of faith. Changed my thinking, changed my perceptions and threw away old habits. Made some decisions to do things I wanted to, but never had the guts to.

And I can honestly say, I've never felt happier since. =)





Oh yeah, 5 more days to ORD. Haha.

The Post which is the Tip of the Spear

One of my favourite songs. Just popped up this afternoon and it's been playing in my head. Haha

The Post which is in Autumn

Caught 500 Days of Summer (like finally) in a rather sparse Cineleisure theater.

It's the kind of film which is neither too spectacular or long. Not extremely hilarious or action packed (hardly any action now that I mentioned it), nor with any notable movie stars. But in a sense it made you think about how little details in the story mirrors your actual life.


















My favourite bit in the movie was when the main character Tom sinks into depression after the breakup and has to go to work one day.

Facing all the cards and other cardmakers, he declares that their jobs were to provide a service for people who cannot express their true feelings, and have to rely on "words put into their mouth by other people" .




















It took me a while to realise, to some crooked extent, this was somewhat true. Now my statement is rather vague, but I always felt that people are never as honest and truthful as they could have been at times, even when it's a good time to let other people know they feel.

"It's okay", "Nevermind", "It's fine" and "Anything" are the common phrases people use everyday. Sometimes it indicates a lack of preference, but I guess it's getting used more often these days when one wants to avoid conflict or making a decision.

Think about it, how many times have you seen in your friends or in other couples, when such phrases are used as an excuse?


















Some of the best talks I had with my closer friends are often made face to face. No MSN, no eBuddy, no handphone messages. No emoticons, no firewalls and no time to draft, edit and publish a correct answer.

My friend Sean, during a sleepy chat on a duty night, once asked me what was the meaning of friendship, and I answered with "when you can look someone in the end, strip away all false pretense, cut the crap and tell him what you think."

I often find I learn more about my friends during such chats (or the popular euphemism heart-to-heart-talk). I can see them thinking, see their raw emotions, watch them cast aside their caution and, as Tom puts it, "stories you have to earn the right to hear".





I'm definitely not a "card" person, I try to be as honest and open as I can possibly be without treading on others' toes. But as with any grownup, I'm bound by societal conventions and niceties and cannot afford to give everyone a piece of my mind without serious censorship.

That's why I'm a little envious of little kids, untainted and oblivious to the outside world, having the right and excuse to say whatever's on their mind.





Anyway as you can see, plenty of thoughts in my mind, so I better end it here before I lose track and delve into another topic. Haha.

I end with the final and my favourite quote of the movie:

The girl of my dreams would have a big bodacious rack, blonde hair and perhaps good at sports. But Robin is better than the girl of my dreams, she's real.

The Post which was So Hot that it Melted

Let's waste time,
Chasing cars.
Around our heads





If I lay here,
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world.

The Post which is the Big Yellow Bag

It's a Sunday. A quiet Sunday, like the many ones before that I've spent in the medical centre, with a book, a PSP and my bed to accompany me for the day.

But unlike the Sundays after this one, it's my last duty in this place, as I'll be clearing my leave /off from next week onwards till ORD.





My NS journey has been really different from what I first thought it would be before enlistment. I envisioned it to be 2 years of running around in jungles, eatting crappy combat rations and becoming fit and strong.

Instead, with one crocked knee, it somehow managed to metamorphasize into what I'm doing today. Still, I can't complain.





I've been somewhat of a nomad. I've been to different courses and units, usually for 2-4 months at each go. I met many types of people, usually those that I've never personally interacted for my pre-NS life.

I've met drug abusers, people with horrendous family problems, car racers, gangsters, teen fathers, smokers and other variants of people who crossed paths with the law.

Strangely enough, I do relate to this people (much better than I thought I would), and if you take your time and effort, strip away their exterior appearances, you do realise that underneath we're all human, that we all deserve respect and care.

That being said, some deserve a lot less respect and care. No names will be mentioned. Haha.





Anyway as a result of my drifting lifestyle between units, I made loads of "temporary friends".

I define "temporary friends" as people whom you meet, become extremely close friends in a short period of time, see and talk to each other everyday till the time frame expires, then pack bags, shakes hands and is hardly seen in each other's lives again.

Given Singapore's small size, this distance between "temporary friends" is more psychological than physical.

The thing is about such friendships between guy is that they usually don't have to catch up unless it happens coincidentally. It hardly matters to us, and we don't pretend otherwise.





In view of this situation, I would dare say I didn't make any true friends in these two years.

It's a bit like a cheap B-grade American action flick: you make allies, you go through shit together, you fight and forget, and live to fight another day.

Until I got posted to the medical centre, my home away from home for the last 5 and a half months.




First of all the medics are mostly from the same background as I am. JC and polytechnic students who completed their studies, viewing NS as another phase in life to get past, gazing working life or university life as a greener pasture on the other side.

Needless to say, I clicked pretty well with the medics. Even though I must have a perpetually sleepy figure who lives in the medical centre half of the time, I managed to talk personally to most of them, had decent intellectual conversations that address issues which matter to us.

It's not as though I would have voluntarily extended my service or deprive myself of leave and offs to stay longer, but as Jerry once said, there are genuinely nice people in the medical centre, and I'll miss them.





Vernon- our endless PES battles, debates on the prettiest actress, cooking instant noodles together.
Jerry-san- learning the guitar songs from you, watching you getting raped by Vernon all the time and earning the title of Qing Ge Xiao Wang Zi.
Sean-san- our laughing fits when we dramatically describe silly stuff, a drifting Honda Fit, long and meaningful conversations and our epic Cloud duels.
Fang- surviving NDP together, having our Victory Maggi, and making it through all my duties with me.
Ernest Slinslizel! - playing games and laughing our asses off whenever stupid things happen during those games, pronouncing every damn name wrong

And of course all the other medics whom I've spent duties with, talking about life and cursing whenever a case comes.





It's been a good run. See you guys on the other side.

The Post which Questions the Schrondinger's Cat

There's this little blue book that all SAF drivers should be familiar with.




It's called the Driver Record Book. It's supposed to be a record of the vehicles that we are trained in, the total mileage that we clocked in our service term and other random knowledge.

We all receive one when we are posted in as drivers. I had mine around June last year. I didn't know it was supposed to be an important record, so for my very first Record Book, I wrote and doodled a lot in it.





The other day I was booking out in my uniform (quite rare for me, I always book out in civvies) and when I got my kit out at home, I saw the book inside my uniform and gave it a read.

Inside there was a scribbled rant of some sort, which I remembered I wrote on a particular "emo" afternoon. I was a very new driver then, exposed to the harsh environment of my unit, sent off to do work I didn't want to do, suffering with people whom I couldn't get along with.





It goes something like:

3 more months to recourse,
4 more months to 1 year (to go in the army),
5 more months to 2009!

Day by day,
Monday to friday,
Weekends play,
Add a few more holidays.

Repeat four times.

Gone one month, gone three months

Back to tekong, to have some fun.
Enjoy your time, slack a bit more.
POC lo! No more REC.

Enter December. Scram all regulars.
Take some leave, and countdown 2008.

Watch your front, 10 more months.
Time seems stagnant, but slow and steady wins the race!

Gone one month, gone four months.
Wah lao eh, six more months!
Tahan a bit more, 16.6.2009
20 years old lo.

Time to "geng", don't drive much
Ambulance duty, sleep can already.
Read some books, take some offs!




It's quite long, and full of crap, but at that time I was pouring out a lot of frustration into a not-rhyming-so-well poem of sorts. But somehow I did calm down considerably after writing this down.

It's funny now that I read it again. It was in July 2008, if you read the poem again (actually, please don't, it's embarrassing), so it's bloody ages ago.

But I'm surprised, despite all the shit that happened since then, I more or less stuck to the schedule I planned for myself.





Time really passes quickly. This week is my last week of duty, next week's my leave.

So, now what?

The Post which is Secretly in Love with Red

It's Sunday duty once again.





Earlier this morning I was about to go back to sleep when I was activated to send a patient to the hospital after he "fell down" in a ship which is about to set sail. Word has it that he has some "girlfriend issues" and perhaps didn't want to embark on a month-long trip, so draw your own conclusions.

It's amazing what people can do when they are desperate enough.





Anyway, I had to wait for him in the hospital A&E department. In my one-hour long stay there were a few other casualties that came in. It's somewhat interesting to see how different family members react when their loved ones are admitted into the A&E.

Just before I left, another Civil Defence ambulance drove to the entrance. The driver rushed out and opened the back door of the ambulance as I walk past.

Inside were four paramedics, frantically trying to resuscitate this eldery man. I could see the anxious face of the female (and if I may say, rather hot-looking) paramedic adminstering CPR on the man. His hands were flopping lifelessly by his sides, as the driver wheeled him out on the Ferno stretcher and pushing him into the A&E.





It's very dramatic stuff. Feels like something you might see on the telly, but this time there are no retakes, no film cuts and rewrites, no life-saving miracle drugs and no suave Japanese doctor.

You know what they say, the brink of a life-or-death situation, your entire life flashes before you?

Got me thinking, if that were to happen to me, what would I actually see. If I were to distill the twenty years of my life, capture the essence of it and put it out on a roll of film, what would define my life up to this point?

The Post which Will Grow Back as Grass

Today is the 6th October 2009.





Rewind a year ago, on this very fateful day, yours truly created history in Changi Naval Base when I misjudged a simple right turn and crashed my car into a lamp post.

It happened in slow motion; the infinitesimal second which it happened seem to stretch out for an eternity. The car bumped right into the base of lamp post 65 of the base. It hung for the briefest of all moments, before crashing backwards with a sickening thud.





The first instincts of survival kicked in first. I actually thought, for one crazy moment, that no one had saw and I could drive and escape away. Then the truth hit me and I saw people rushing forward to help me out.

Blood was welling up in my mouth but the only thing I had in mind was that I blew my chances of going to a local university because surely, surely, the detention barracks await me for causing a bloody fucking stupid accident.





I was pretty much in a daze for the rest of the night. My buddy Aanandaa sent me to the hospital, my sisters met up with me there, there were phone calls going all around.

Then I was sent back to camp. My warrant officer was there to help me, when other investigating officers came down to grill, interrogate and question me.

I was sent home at about 11pm later. No one else spoke to me, which suited me fine. I'm not sure I wanted to talk much, having endured probably the worst night in my life.





I guess I lived under a constant shadow of worry ever since that accident. I went to my recourse BMT in Tekong shortly. It was supposed to a seven-week holiday, but there wasn't a week I wasn't calling back my unit to find out about my sentence.

Eventually, on the very last week of BMT, I finally called my Officer-in-Charge, to find out that he would be giving me SOL (basically a confinement) of 14 days in camp. No DB. The shadow was finally lifted.





The SOL was served this February. It was my second longest stay away from home. It's funny what a second of carelessness can cause.

Thankfully I had a lot of great friends in my unit, bringing me stuff from out of camp. Aanandaa (who coincidentally had an accident the very next day) was a great company for the first week, and the second week past by quickly with work and jokes.





In retrospect, it seemed to me that a certain someone up there wanted to teach me a lesson. I was young, not too experienced but getting cocky.

I also thought that I was lucky enough because the lamp post fell away from the car. Had it landed on the vehicle instead, I guess I wouldn't be escaping with just a cut lip and distended jaw.





So it's been a year. Time really flies.

I still think about the accident from time to time. Whenever I drive out of camp, I will deliberately drive past the new lamp post, reminding myself what I've done and will never ever do again.

So kids, drive safe, drive responsibly, and think of your loved ones whenever you feel like doing something stupid while driving.

The Post which is Awesome

Whaddup!



How I Met Your Mother, great comedy, good sitcom, not as good as FRIENDS (then again, what is?) and a new source of inspiration, jokes and funny soundbites.

I first caught it during a weekend duty a long time ago, when a medic sneaked in around 10 episodes in his iPod. He introduced me to it, but I didn't really follow up.

Just a week ago, Yongliang came to visit at my place. Yup, my dear friend Yongliang whom I haven't seen in ages, busy with his army life in the 2PDF, brave defender of our beloved Singapore. Haha.

Anyway he came over a regular chilled out meeting, with the best present ever. 4 full seasons of HIMYM in a hard disk, which is as Barney Stinson says, is LEGENDARY.





I find myself a bit like the main protagonist Ted Mosby, when it comes to making decisions, in life and in love.

I'm not exactly meticulous, but I do tend to think quite a lot more when it comes to doing stuff. I'll approach stuff like the way I approach one of my Rubix cubes; look at it from all sides, twist it a little to see how things will look like, and inevitably, twisting it back, in fear of totally messing up the cube again.

While this method has served me well in staying away from trouble, sometimes I wonder if that's the way I really want to be at times.

There are moments where spontaneity is called for, but there's always this intrinistic, logical part of me that speaks out in a tiny voice at the back of my head, "Woah dude, look again."

It usually ends up with me doing what's supposed to be done, and not what I wanted.




As Lily, one of the characters in HIMYM says in one of the episodes:

"There are certain things in life where you know it's a mistake but you don't really know it's a mistake because the only way to really know it is a mistake is to make that mistake and look back and say, "Yup, that was a mistake".

So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake because then you'll go your whole life not really know if something is a mistake or not. And dawn I made no mistakes. I've done all of this : my life, my relationship, my career mistakes free. Does any of this make sense to you?"





Time for me to make some mistakes?

The Post which Caught Your Wave

Accomplished quite a few things over this week (and it's only Tuesday) to herald in my ORD mood.





First up, I applied leave for the last two weeks of October. I haven't been using a single day of leave due to my working schedule for the past five months. So if there are any events on those days, please update me, let me know and I'm surely gonna be there!

I still got a whole bunch of off-in-lieu's which I haven't cleared. There's like 13 of them. I don't think I'm able to use every of them, but it's a healthy number of supplementary off days huh. Haha.




And then, I'm settling the paperwork for the application for my civilian driving license!

I can't really describe the feeling when I printed out the pages of my monthly mileage for the past one year odd. For most people, their driving license is probably $2000 plus, and from a few months of training. For us, it's many months of sweat and labour and I really hope to get the license soon.





Today afternoon was my ORD FFI.

A year ago, this term would have seem like a distant, foreign dream to me. Being the youngest driver then, I felt that only the senior drivers, those who have seen it and done it all, would receive that ORD clearance forms with pride and confidence.

Fast forward to present day, yours truly have finally held the clearance on my own hands, written my own name and parade it in front of others.

How things change. Haha.




My last piece of good news was the announcement of ambulance course for my juniors, which is set to take place at the end of this month. So I will spend one more week in October duty, then it's goodbye to the medical centre and my beloved MID 45993.

As any NSF will tell you, when your understudy comes, it marks the end of your career. Not a bad thing in SAF.





ORD, I can see it in the horizon!

The Post which Met the Pink Lady

I've got issues about dentists, dentistry and the whole shebang.




I know it's recommend that we go once every 6 months to check our teeth, blah blah but face it, how many people actually do that?

Dentistry must be no mean feat, and I really respect people who take up a career of looking at molars and incisors of other many other people who obviously don't brush up. Gross.

That also probably also explains the attitude of most dentists though. It gives off the vibe of "I'm always right, don't argue with me, do as you're told", rather like a stern parent ticking off a particularly notorious kid.




You might also notice something funny about people who are going for dental appointments, that they ALMOST ALWAYS brush their teeth just before their appointments. I do it too. It makes me laugh, and I don't know why.

To me, it's a bit like trying to study for a test in the last minute. There's no way you can pass it, and a chiding is certainly on its way.

And the dentists do give rather obvious comments too. They go, "So dirty!". Well if it was already clean, why do I need to come in the first place?





Anyway, I went for my dental ORD FFI earlier this week, and I must say it was the most unlikely one.

The dentist said there were no problems with my teeth (!), that they seem to be clean enough(!!) and there will be no need to pluck my wisdom tooth (!!!).

The first two comments were pleasantly surprising, the last one felt like punch to my gut. Let me explain how the typical NSFs feel about wisdom teeth.

It's free (doing it outside costs a few hundred per tooth), it gives you many days of MC, and it gives you many days of MC. Did I mention it gives you many days of MC? Haha.

So yeah, quite dui. No medical appointment. At least I have good teeth. :D




One last thing, congrats to Jerry the medic for his ORD, will miss the stay-in duties and learning guitar from ya.

And to lesser extent, congrats to Fangyi on your enlistment. As the song goes, "Once in our life, such a waste of time!"

The Post which is Damn Small

Well we're into September. 2 more months to ORD!





I went back to TJ to play volleyball last Friday.

One thing I love about being in the team is that, whenever there is training, all you have to do is to spam the message around that there is one, and you can get at least get 2-3 seniors to come down.

Last Friday was a girls junior training. I worked on the phone, and I managed to get a good five to six seniors to play along. Pretty cool!

I realised I haven't ran, jumped or did any cardio exercise since the badminton trip. This time, my lack of exercise was all too apparent. My legs and shoulders ached like hell, and I was pouring sweat.

Can't believe I used to play volleyball everyday. Haha. Old already la.





I realised sometime ago, that I haven't been hanging out with the 07 folks for quite a while. The last time I met the whole big bunch of them was during my birthday (2 and a half months ago) and then a badminton outing with a few of them (more than a month ago).

Now that I'm free after NDP, I tried planning some stuff, but it fell short because of the girls starting school.

Hm... maybe can try some other time eh? Wonder if the idea of the year end chalet is still going through.

The Post which is Fighting and Forgetting

Another lonely post in the medical centre, with a cup of coffee and two Twiggies (awesome stuff) to accompany me.




I received news from my boss that, no ambulance course again this month, so it's down to us two lads to settle the duties for September.

It's like, holy crap, I'm already spending more time attached to the Medical Centre than I've been in my own unit. Not that our duties are extremely tiring or packed, but sometimes holding a 8-to-5 is pretty good.





It also means that when I do get back to my unit in October, I have 9 days of leave, 13 days of off, as well as MCs when I get my wisdom tooth plucked, all of which excluding weekends, to clear within 5 weeks.

Where got time to do my ORD clearance!





Anyway, Jianwei Alvin and I headed down to Attica at Clarke Quay to support Shiyun for her UOC Pageant.

I may have left NDP behind at Clarke Quay two weeks ago (for some reason, it feels like a lifetime ago), but evidently the weather remained quite the same.

It was humid. Sweat and sweat. And then more sweat. Not very sexy when you're dressed up and ready to go into a club, only to be reduced to looking like Patrick Viera after a soccer match.





Inside the club was pretty cool. It's my first time there, in fact it's also my first time into a club. I'm not really into the clubbing kind, but it's a good experience.

And it's very squeezy too! It felt as though I walk right into a MRT on a weekday morning, except it was much darker, a lot less China workers and I'm in a much better mood.





Managed to settle into a spot to watch the proceedings and root for our dearest participant, only to realise in a while, that I was wedged in between a walkway between the stage and the upper platform.

Girls and guys of different shapes and sizes (and smell too. Sweat perhaps? Urgh) tried to jostle past us, giving you enough body contact to make you either very pissed or embarrassed.

I would have been the latter, but I was constantly brought back to reality when girls started to step accidentally on my toes. Heels/stilettos against human feet protected by thin leather, it was never going to be much of a fight. I was very surprised they didn't puncture a few holes in my shoes.





The UOC was very enjoyable in any other case. I thought the Malay emcee did a fantastic job with his banter and candid hosting. The crowd was pretty on, the music was good, the housepour was crap, the ending was pretty unexpected, all of which added up to a reasonably fun evening.

Once again, congratulations to Shiyun for getting the 1st Runner Up!

The Post with the Victory Maggi

It's a beautiful Sunday, and I'm sleeping it off all the way in camp. T.T




Got this awesome headache as well as pulsating pain in the throat when I woke up this morning, as though someone pulled me up, skewered me on the throat, rubbed salt on it and toasted it over a fire. It might be too much junk food, but something tells me retribution. (More on this later)

It's good to have medic friends, because they know what to do, at least to alleviate the pain. Popped in some meds, then I was unconscious for a good part of the day.





NDP ended last week, and it was a good way to go!

In the morning, instead of heading down to the medical post straight, I drove down another place for a meeting, and you can see the entire contingent of ambulances and the drivers. The look of their faces says it all.

FINALLY THE LAST ONE.





It was an uneventful day, typically good in the medical circles. But I was forbidden to say so, because some people are particularly picky about cursing your good fortune.

And it was also day where the weather was relentless. The tent was a sluggish cauldron of increasingly stale hot air and restless sweaty people. Not until it was about 6pm did the f***ing sun finally set.





A funny thing did happen at night though.

It was about 8pm, a while to go before the Pledge moment is about to start. A crowd started to gather by the two sides of the Singapore River, including around our medical post. We're starting to think if they were here to watch the fireworks, because if they were, they are in for a disappointing evening.

After a long while of deliberation, Benjamin the medic from Tuas, rose up to the challenge (quite literally; he had to stand on a pedestal to be seen amongst the throng of people) and spoke through the loudhailer:





"Hello everyone! Happy National Day! Yup, just want to check with you all, are you guys here to look at the fireworks?" At this point some people actually cheered and clapped.

"But sorry to disappoint you all, but we've been here for the past 8 weeks and this building blocked up most of the view."

"So if you guys want to see the fireworks, you can go to the opposite side of the river. Walk slowly, don't push and be careful. Happy National Day once again!"

Which was like, damn zai can. Totally professional, polite, cool and nice. Most of the medical staff were very impressed by his short announcement.




Anyway, around 20% of the people left, which was immediately replaced by people who were too far to hear anything. The rest stood resolutely at where they were, either not believing a work we said or completely deaf in both ears. FINE.

Game time. 2022h.

We stood as the pledge was recited. As the last words rang out, I stole a glance to see the crowd's expression.

BOOM! The fireworks went off.

"OI", "WHAT THE HELL", "WAH LAO", "SIAN", "SHIT LA" and other assorted ramblings rang out among the night crowd. They couldn't see SHIT. LOL

The crowd cleared out faster than a bomb warning or announcement of free NDP tickets for next year. We resisted the urge to yell out "Told ya!"





We didn't end too late that night, everyone was in a good mood because it's finally over. The medics and doctors went home, and I set off for the bed in camp with my faithful ambulance.

Looking back, although the staying over on both days of the weekends was a bitch, I'm somehow glad that I'm part of this year's parade. Was a good experience, saw loads of stuff and made me a mentally tougher person.




Yesterday was also a good day. Went prawning with the Clique and celebrated Alvin's birthday.

I'm somewhat guilty about missing out a lot of friend's birthdays, outings and celebrations because of my weird working schedules, so I was really glad to be able to make it for this one.

It's a lot of fun, especially we don't usually go prawning and it's a really good way to chill out. It's easy to pick up and awfully satisfying when you do catch something (I didn't catch a lot, but still..).

Man was programmed to hunt and cook for their survival. It's in their primal instincts. So I got a big kick when the first prawn came up from my noobish hunting. Granted, capturing not-very-smart prawns in a not-very-deep-or-big pool is called hunting, but whatver yea?

It came down to crunch time when it was time to cook the prawns. It's not like OCS stuff, plucking a chicken's head or peeling off a snake skin from their living sources.

There's no blood, no commotion, just some very sad, struggling prawns and some satay sticks. A few moments before their impending impalement, I said a little prayer. Well, not just to the prawns, but also to the Heavens that I won't come back in my next life as a prawn.





So I pulled the prawns up, skewered them through their belly, rubbed salt and toasted them over a slow fire. Man, some of those buggers were feisty fighters, struggling all the way to their fiery graves.

And I really reckon it came back to bite me in the ass this morning in the form a nasty sore throat. T.T

The Post which Got the Wrong Size

Caught the movie Up in the cinema today, and man it's pretty good!

















It's a heartwarming story about this old man trying to realise his lifelong dream, and deciding to do embark on his journey on a house, flying on balloons, aided and abetted by a little boy.

No other spoilers here, but it's a definite must watch. There were several parts which tugged at my heart strings, but well, it's a feel good show la huh. Haha.





I had my first free Friday and Saturday in two months. Man it really rocks to hit the town, see the people milling about and enjoying themselves after a week of hard work.


And the best thing is..

NDP ENDS TOMORROW! :D:D