[Tuesday, May 27, 2003 11:01 AM]
wahaaaha i think i'm getting good at getting MCs. since there's nothing much to do in camp this week.. thought i should reward myself with a long weekend.. and here i am. :) will be booking in tonight though. tomorrow's game's day. heh. not very sure what it's about cos i've been missing out on lots of stuff recently.. but i think it'll involve inter-company games. sounds quite fun.

anyway i haven't been going out much these few days. i'm supposed to be sick. heehe. need lots of rest.. hahaah. just finished watching slackers which i downloaded through kazaa. another one of those typical funny american high school/college movies. think angela is damn pretty. heh. check out the trailor and see for yourself. i also just finished watching the season finale of friends season 9. sigh the ending's quite sad. rachel ends up with joey. oops did i just spoil the show for you? hehee. ok time for a nap while i leave my kazaa on to download how to lose a guy in 10 days

[Sunday, May 25, 2003 0:36 AM]
so i did survive the 16km route march. heh. but only barely. i almost died dragging my buddy along. he was on the verge of giving up at the final quarter of the march.. and if he had fallen out he'd be made to redo the entire thing with another company or something like that. i had to grab his arm and pull him along while another guy pushed him from the back. this is despite the fact that i myself was in danger of breaking down any minute. i wasn't even feeling well in the first place.. was still suffering from flu. the first quarter of the march was quite okay.. sung and joked around along the way. by the second quarter.. fatigue starts to set in. the entire uniform becomes soaked in sweat.. and the excess sweat seeps down into your boots. at the halfway mark, every step you take you can feel water being squeezed out of the sole like a sponge. feet becomes all wrinkled and soft after being soaked for so long. blisters begin to form on your feet. towards the three quarters mark, your worst nightmare comes true: abrasions! some get it in the groin area, while the more fortunate ones have it on their thighs. you start walking with your legs wide apart to minimise friction between your skin and the pants. at the last 2km or so.. morale becomes all time low. nobody bothers to sing anymore. all you hear is the dragging of feet, and once in a while, vulgarities hurled at the guy in front to hurry up. last 500m: you feel symptoms of cramps building up in your calves and feet.. and the last thing you need is a bout of cramps and fall out at the final bit of the march. when you finally reach company line, you're too tired to think back about your achievement. it's already 8.30pm yet you've lost your appetite for dinner. yup anyway glad i made it.. now i'm just left with the 24km march on POP day. according to the meter on my dad's car, 24km stretches from my house (around thomson area) all the way to changi village. cool huh.

received 2 cards in the mail today. my SAFRA membership card and my driving licence! heh these 2 new additions in my wallet makes me feel more grown up. hahaa. i've got until 31st may to collect the spa vouchers and some other welcome gifts from safra, but don't think i'll have the time to do it.

was watching 'The Majestic' on HBO just now. its quite a nice show.. by jim carrey.. and it lasted 2.5 hrs. the new plasma tv my dad bought made it even more enjoyable to watch. the sound system's good, and with the wide screen of the plasma display, the black borders at the top and bottom of the movie isn't shown.. making it like a full screen thing. heehe i think i'll start watching lots of HBO with it from now.

oh i just found out huiting has a blog.. heh hello huiting. added you to my links :P

[Tuesday, May 20, 2003 3:22 PM]
sigh. i'm sick. fever, flu, cough, sore throat. you name it. woke up yesterday morning with a terribly inflamed throat and a 37.9 degree fever. my sergeant didn't want me to miss my ippt trial test so he just asked me to take 2 panadols and hope i recover. took his advice.. but after a while i thought my fever was getting worse, and i kept sneezing and coughing. decided to see the medical officer and fuck the ippt.

queued from 8.30 all the way till 12 just to see the MO, and it happened that the panadol kicked into effect just as my temperature was taken at the medical centre. the disgusting ear thermometer they used (they don't have any of those disposable plastic condom kinda thing so the probe at the thermometer was presumably covered in a superthick layer of ear wax) read 37.1, which meant i wouldn't be able to get an mc.. only 3 days of 'attend b' status (light duties). so off i went back to my bunk and took my medication. took a short nap on my bed.. and when i woke up.. my fever had worsened, and so had my flu and throat. drank like a litre of water every hour.. but it didn't help. sat in my bed all wrapped up in my blanket and stoned the whole day cos i couldn't do anything else. the weather was freakishly hot but i was shivering under the ceiling fan. my entire body was aching so bad i could hardly move. i couldn't sleep because the moment i lay down i'd get a headache, and my nose will be blocked and i'd have to breathe through my mouth, which makes the throat dry and aggravates the sore. for almost 5 straight hours i sat in the same position, listening to my radio receiver. after dinner, we had to take our temperature the second time. mine read 38 degrees, so my sergeat thought its best i go back to the MO again. had to walk all the way to the medical centre again, but at least there wasn't a queue this time round. there was only one MO on duty cos its past office hours, and i think he was in a hurry to bathe. he was in his tshirt, shorts and sandals, holding a bath towel and soap in his hands. before i could explain my situation to him, he just said 'ok just go home and take a rest'. short and sweet. heh. gave me 3 days mc which lasts till tomorrow. i was sent back to company line in a mask, and everyone tried to avoid me thinking i'm some suspected sars case or something. who cares? i get to book out and they don't. hehe.

anyway i went to see my family doc this morning cos i think the medicine from the MO sucked. he didn't even give me antibiotics.. which i thought was vital for sore throats, and my fever still hasn't subsided. i figured if i get another 2 days mc, i won't even need to report back to camp till next monday. haha. oh but that'll also mean i'm gonna miss my military police (MP) interview on thursday. hmmm not worth missing the interview since it's a potential 2 years of good life should i become an MP. heard it's a lot more slack that any of those combat units around.

oh i just remembered i still have a 16km route march on friday. hope i can survive that one. i don't wanna miss it or i'll have to be attached to another company and do it with them. argh i'll see how it goes. the cough syrup's making me drowsy.. gonna sleep now..

[Sunday, May 11, 2003 5:27 PM]
hmmm looks like i haven't posted anything for some time. time out here is scarce.. and should be spent doing things more constructive than sitting in front of the computer. heh.

anyway.. just finished my field camp on thursday. it was quite ok overall i guess. but we get tekan-ed like fuck every morning by the instructors for various reasons which never made sense at all. for instance there was this night (early morning at around 5am) where we had a turn out (sergeants would throw thunderflashes and shoot blanks at us while everyone's fast asleep to simulate enemies dropping bombs and firing at us). we're supposed to pack up all our stuff, dismantle our bashas (small 2-men tents), and fall in within 20 mintues. being extra kiasu and knowing the consequences if we don't meet the time limit, everyone worked superfast and assembled in less than 15 mins. we were still smiling at ourselves, proud of what we managed to achieve when suddenly this instructor came up to us and fucked us for not shouting our platoon number loud enough. the first few people in the line were supposed to shout "platoon 1, platoon 1" so that the rest know where to assemble in the total darkness, and because of that what seemed like a negligible mistake, we were made to knock it down. yup a few dozens of pushups won't hurt anyone we thought, but because a few idiots didn't do it properly, we were made to do many many more exercises. from pushups it switched to crunches, and then to holding the rifle above your head. and then because some ass didn't do it properly (that's what the instructor claimed), we were made to hold it in front of your chest with your elbows straightened for like 15 mins or so (that was a killer). oh well, we recruits will always be in the wrong no matter what, so there's really no way for us to escape all the punishments.

now that both range and field camp are over, i'm about three quarters of my way through bmt. if nothing goes wrong i should be able to book out every weekend from now. half the platoon had been slapped with confinements and guard duties for the various mistakes they committed, but being extra careful in everything, i managed to escape them so far. trying my best to keep that clean sheet throughout bmt.. hehe.

had an ocs visit yesterday morning. didn't know so many of my platoon mates owned cars. at least 5 or 6 of the 30 who were present drove there. wish i had my own car.. heh. don't think my dad will let me touch his at the moment. hmm anyway i haven't got my licence yet. which reminds me.. i still need to take a passport-sized photo for my licence! argh that'll also mean my licence will have a picture of me in my horrible hair (what hair?). ok shall get it done next bookout, which will prob be next thursday cos it's vesak day! i love public holidays. oh speak of cars.. fiona just passed her driving test on friday. congrats fi! and yesterday she told me she got to drive her bf's mum's car! wahh.. *jealous*

ok gotta pack my stuff now. sigh hate the feeling of having to book in again. it feels like.. having to go to school again on monday mornings when you're in.. hmm.. primary 1? haha yah i hated that feeling.. but school got better later on and that feeling slowly disappeared. hope army life will become better too. will be having my SIT test tomorrow. another 3 days outfield. another 3 days of disgusting combat rations. oh speak of that, i lost 5kg in my 7 day field camp, by eating nothing but biscuits from my combat raions pack. yup so if you're trying very hard to lose those extra kilos, try eating just 4 packets of biscuits a day. (each pack containing no more than 5 credit card sized biscuits). tried and tested method of losing weight. hehe.