Saturday, July 15, 2006
You will probably wonder why I'm home on a weekend that I'm supposed to be mounting. I took a half day off because I needed a break. Simple as that. This break will be the start of many breaks to come. Just because the zhen sheng and yj aren't in camp and the fact that I've not booked in yet has led me to discovered that things can get out of control. I've already planned the detailing for today days ago but alvin has decided to take attend c and ruin the whole thing. Hock Leong sms me in the morning the news but seriously, what do you expect me to do? There's only so much I can do as as an ic, I was probably taken for granted when I was around. I heard that there was a struggle to replan the detailing among the man with each and everyone trying to fight for the best slots and the most rest. Actually it was kinda expected. People nowadays are getting more and more selfish. They only care about themselves and not for their fellow shift mates. It's sad to hear of that happening.
Yesterday's drills haven't been that at all as compared to the change of command for the base commander. I remember the drills then were damn xiong and rehearsals took place 1 month before the actual one. Warrant officers and rsms from other airbases even came down to conduct drills for us and make sure we were in tip top condition. Even though we are not professionals when it comes to doing drills, these warrants expected nothing less from us. Doing drills on top of mounting duties was very tiring. Imagine doing drills in the hot afternoon till evening or after it rained when humidity was at its highest. Totally bad for your skin and health as well.
I expected the drills today to last till 6pm at least because I'm always prepared for the worst scenario. Anything more would be a bonus to me. In the end, rsm announced that drills would last from 2pm to 5pm. However, he probably knew we were tired and didn't expect too much from us and let us off at 4.30pm. I myself was caught by him for yawning while forming up at the formed up point. He went, "Hey specky, you tired is it?" Obviously he was joking with me but nevertheless, I could tell that during such a low manning period, he understood our needs and didn't go overboard with his drills and giving us adequate rest in between the drills. To the guys who went through the tough base commander coc with me, I salute you all.
Met up with marvin, wen long, edwin, wei wen and sum for lunch at al-ameen before heading down to west for drills. It's been some time since I last met up with them and had a good meal. Now I know who to look for the next time I need some kakis for high tea or buffet. No prizes for guessing because the man in the picture is wenlong. He ordered a plate of sambal mee goreng, 1 prata with egg and lastly, a plate of egg omelette. This guy has got a huge appetite! Many thanx to Marvin for driving us to base. Compiled with the towkay looks with the earpiece stuck into his ear, Marvin looks like someone who has driven for years despite that P plate on his car. Besides having to face the problem of the traffic on the roads, we were not sure of the route to west but we managed to figure it out soon after and it was a smooth journey all the way.
Me and sum followed marvin to return the car to his uncle who stayed at Bedok reservoir after the drills. It was my first time that I've seen Bedok reservoir in person after hearing so much about it in edwin's blog. In fact, I've never even been to that part of Bedok before. The only places I've been to in Bedok is the hawker centre besides the mrt station and temasek junior college for a squash friendly. It was nice of marvin's uncle to drop us off at the bus stop where we could take the express 506 which would take us nicely to west mall and jurong west respectively. The only other express SBS bus I've taken was 502 from the bus stop outside my jc to town. Considering that jjc was all the way at the other end of the island, taking the mrt to town can be quite a long journey and my friend suggested that we try out 502. It was relatively fast since it goes by the holland village and youth flying club route all the way to town.
Me and marvin had a good conversation along the way. Talking about the politics and problems that our respective shift have. I know he wants to keep a low profile but him being the northern ic, he faced more or less the same problems I face in my own shift. People who don't give a shit about their shift. He's one of the many who has told me that it's time to take a break from mounting duties and give myself a holiday by starting to clear my leave. I've been thinking about my life alot in these few weeks and more or less planned when I'm gonna clear my leave. Planning my break to revolve around not just for my friends but for my family as well. I could a whole lot with this break, a break to recharge my energy, go exercise, do the things that I never had the time to with such a screwed up mounting schedule and meet up with friends etc.
It's been a bit weird not having my favourite spec around while he's away clearing his leave. I miss talking nonsense and making fun of him while he's doing his duty at night. How he always try to chase me away from the cctv room and recently, he's been making alot of fun at me. I had a good conversation with him online yesterday night. For someone who's always smiling away, he sure has alot of problems bottled up within him. It gave me an insightful view of another side of him as well. There's not much I can reveal in my blog to be fair to yj but he doesn't ask for much, just peace. The definition may sound too general, you readers go figure it out.
My parents and sister have always been rushing me to take up driving at bbdc and offered to pay for my driving lessons as well. The other part of me would have taken up such an offer but I prefer to use my own money to pay for my driving lessons. It's like what marvin had said, only when you use your own money will you start to take each and every lesson more seriously. You will want to pass it asap to avoid having to spend more to retake. The rationale is there to be seen. It's like when I worked hard for 2 weeks for F & N during the Chinese New Year period and earned around 600 bucks plus, I finally learnt that it's not easy earning money. You literally toil for it. I used that amount to pay for the fujitsu laptop on which I'm typing on right now. The satisfaction is there considering I've paid for my own laptop with resorting to borrowing money from my parents.
The urge to buy a car for university is always there because it beats taking public transport and squeezing for seats and space with the rest of Singapore. Even though my course fees for uni has already been taken care of and I'm getting a monthly allowance from moe, I don't wish to be burdened by cost of having to pay for not just the car but also for the petrol, road tax, insurance and parking fees etc. I could alot more with that allowance I'm getting like buying clothes, hps and even treating my girlfriend to better stuff. So what's the aim for me? I'll probably get one after working for 4 years, when my financial status is more stable.
