Friday, December 02, 2005
Met up with Pek after that dude had just recently finished his A levels. I haven't seen that guy for ages, don't even remember when was the last time I saw him in town. The last time Jason Wong came back to Singapore, we wanted to ask him out for dinner together but because he was busy preparing for his school prelims, he couldn't make it. That makes the last time I saw him was at acjc when I played rugby against acjc at their homeground. I was doing warm ups with my teammates at the field when I saw someone familiar at the hockey d ring. It was Pek feeding his juniors the hockey ball for them to shoot at goal. I shouted out to him and he was pleasantly surprised to see me. Guess nobody gives a shit about jjc coming over to play acjc. It was as if it was a forgone conclusion.
He commented that I haven't changed much, still the same old guy but I told him physically-wise, I may be still the same but I've learnt to developed a different perspective when it comes to handling life's challenges. I will not to the extent of saying I've matured over the years as I will leave it to the others to comment on it. However, its true that after enlistment into the army, you are forced to grow up and handle any issues and obstacles that come your way. No longer can you depend on your family all your life. It's time to grow up whether you like it or not. You learn to take care of yourself outside in camp because there will be nobody else to do it for you. You complain to nobody else but yourself because you don't want your parents to worry about you. You spent 90% of 2005 to 2007 in camp and your camp mates becomes your best friends.
I looked at Pek and he reminded me of myself before I enlisted in March. I had so much free time back then after the A levels. At least 4 months to kill before I go into Tekong. I didn't know what to do with so much time on my hands suddenly, before the A levels, there's always so much to do, so many things to buy and you wanted to go travelling etc. However, the moment the examiner asked us to put our pens down for the last paper, you wonder what's the next thing you wanna do. There are pros and cons of enlisting late and early. You get some time off to yourself to enjoy while your friends are left with a month before they go in. However, they will start to laugh at you when it comes for the time to collect their pink ic. No doubt, they will ord earlier than you. It depends on how you look at it, either you suffer first and enjoy later or vice versa. I happen to fall into the category where I enjoyed first. It starts to become boring when you see friend after friend go in and you aren't left with that many people to go out with.
Pek is one of the lucky few that got posted to police for their national service. It's his brother that I pity. If Pek gets posted to police for his ns, it's a 100% confirmed that his brother will go into the army. Guess in life, some people are just lucky.
It's painful to count down to the day I ord because it's such a long way ahead. It's better not to do it. Just slowly let the day arrive and I'll embrace it like there's no tomorrow. I find myself lucky to be in shift 3 where everyone is so funny and it's not like those mounting in base. Everyone there is so shagged out after duties that all they do is sleep and eat. There are emplacements in east that give us the chance to mount duties together, to talk about life and other stuff. I'm thankful for that. Our life is unlike others, even the shift that takes over us. They are so damn quiet and I don't think I've even heard any laughter coming from them.
Ns is really 2 years of our lives. It will no doubt bring about changes from one's character to their mindset.
