Thursday, December 21, 2006
It's been raining non-stop for the past few days and I booked out to news that the remaining parts of Singapore had been under the effect of torrential rain as well. The thing about being in that secluded part of Changi can leave you without a clue as to what's going on outside. Even in camp, the rain affected many of our plans such as soccer and we had to stay indoors to find stuff to do. It really surprised me to see pictures of certain parts of Singapore like Thomson flooded and up to knee levels. It's certainly a sight to behold in a developed country like Singapore. Of course floodings have occured in Singapore before in low-lying areas like Chinatown but it wasn't as bad as the current one. I even read in the newpaper about foreign workers in Singapore fishing in knee-deep waters for their dinner. Within a span of 1 hour, he managed to catch up to 20 fishes and that was enough to have a feast with his fellow friends.
Spent the whole morning at the Singapore Discovery centre as changi airbase held its base anniversary there. The thing about a cold and rainy morning is that it makes you want to sleep in and that makes waking up a very difficult task. Even though I stay pretty near the area(for the few times in my nsf life, the odds are in my favour), I thought I'll be late because we were told to be there by 8.45am. Well, obviously it didn't really matter you were there at 8am or 11am, I don't think anyone will be sorely missed. Like what I told marvin, it felt good to be able to go home without having to worry about the long journey. A pity for my friends who stayed in the eastern part of Singapore. They probably knew how I felt for the past 1 year plus.
It's been sometime since I last went to SDC because there's really no need to go there unless it was an organized tour by the school or the army. If I'm not wrong, the last time was either in sec 4 or in the jc days. I still remember the ocs visit during the jjc days, we had a deeper understanding of what's the training and life in ocs is like and how the cadets encouraged us to train harder in order to make it for ocs. I never denied the fact while I had the dream to become one, I knew my limits and accepted with an open heart as to where the SAF will post me to. After all, it's only for 2 years. The exhibits in SDC were no doubt up to date but for the rest of them, it was pretty boring. Me, chee yong, mavarick and yj probably completed the walk in less than 30 mins. I gave an honest answer to the woman who asked for my opinion as to whether I enjoyed my time in the SDC. The food court in SDC could do with more varieties and the food weren't very good as well. The katong laksa was watery and it tasted ordinary while the rest who bought western didn't have anything good to say about it.
The only thing I enjoyed was the time me, yj and mavarick spent at the shooting gallery today. It was my first time using the SAR-21 rifle and while it looked good and was easy to handle, it wasn't a good combat rifle to go into the battlefield. As a left-hander, the rifle wasn't made for users like me, I had to train to use the rifle with my right hand. Well, the feeling wasn't right overall. Like what my pc from bmt who's a warrant officer said, he'll go to war with a m-16 and not the SAR-21.
Received a letter of commendation from the base commander today onstage and it was the first time in my army life that I managed to get any sort of letter. The A-4 size paper might seem like just another piece of paper to me at first but it felt good nonetheless to be commended for 2 years of service. It's not so much about being nominated or getting it, it's about getting recognized for the 2 years of my youth that I've rendered to the nation. Many thanks to pc jianwei who recommended me. Last mount was probably the last time I've planned the detailing for the shift. I might have come across as a freak or a detailing-obsessed person to many but I'm just trying to do my job. From planning up to 6 pieces of detailing to deal with all sorts of scenarios to planning detailings of mounts way in advance, I was just trying to play safe and cautious game. It's like the way I study, I rather not spot questions and bank on anything. It's all about getting the most out of your notes and tackle any questions that comes along my way. It's gonna feel weird for me because I'm so used to doing stuff that I've doing for the past 1 year.
There's this sense of attachment not just to my shift but also the way it's been run and how it functions. Asking me to let go ain't gonna gonna be easy. What's the quote of the day for me? "Regulars in civilian clothes looked pretty ordinary as compared to being in camp"
4 days to Christmas
