Disclaimer: If this post, in any way, feels a bit awkward due to restrictive typing, it is only because this entry is used both as a blog entry as well as a journal entry to my commanders. Oh yes, in OCS, we gotta write an entry each week. So I guess it's good news for you. You'll be hearing a lot less whines and uninteresting soliloquies about National Service.

So it took a social night to really drill into me how exceptionally ungentlemanly I am. And the worst part was it only got into my somewhat thick skull after my buddy told me that his girlfriend said my date, Suwen, was struggling behind me in her heels most of the time. I'm typing this on my (non-camera, I emphasize) iPod Touch in bunk now, with the platoon getting confined and some of us helping out the graduating batch's dining in ceremony tonight. Oh I did try to be gentlemanly though, give me some tiny tiny credit cause I bought roses for Su. But then it's like Nex Mall doesn't have a florist so I had to get them without gift wrapping. Which wasn't a very nice thing to do but I'm sorry that was the first time I bought flowers, so not much experience there. I will got read a self help book about it soon. I promise. I'm kidding. No, maybe I'll really do it. Like a "100 Things You Should NEVER Do When You Are With Your Date" or a "100 Things You MUST Do..." kind of book. Perhaps the most obvious one, a "How To Be A Gentleman, For Dummies".

And then the other take-away I got is that I'm really becoming more anti-social the longer I stay in army. I thought I used to be less awkward. It's like I talked to the platoon mates a lot in BMT, and then in SCS I barely talked to people out of my section. So far in Echo it's been not too bad though, cause everyone's really nice and friendly. So I hope I could change. Social night was a meaningful experience though. I wouldn't say it was extremely fun, but I think it's great exposure to such events that all of us are going to face when we grow up. Makes you feel like an adult, doesn't it? I do regrettably say that in the end, the only commander I engaged in conversation in was Lieutenant Soffian. Gotta work on that too. Another important life skill. So I'm just hoping that the more I attend such events the more natural I get at it - that would be great.

The only complaint I had about the day was the wet weather. It really foiled the plans. Especially when it started - there wasn't a complete covered walkway to the parade square from carpark I, then we didn't have dining tables and chairs to sit on because they were stuck in the rain, so we had to hold our plates of food and drinks and for me, an additional camera and a champagne bottle. I don't have four hands. So that was quite chaotic. But as the night went on, the rain died down and things got a lot better, so that was with thanks to the organizing committee. By coincidence, or perhaps some fate, some people I knew from different phases of my life turned out to be the dates of the fellow Echo cadets, but I felt like it was quite a pity because in the end I didn't much manage to have a nice chat with a lot of them, with us rushing around to find people (whom we already know) and all. Maybe if I did it another time, I'll put real effort into making new friends instead of going about looking for our good friends, which I guess, unfortunately, most people ended up doing because it was most comfortable that way.

But it was a pleasant experience, in an overall sense. I feel more like an officer cadet, less of a specialist cadet. I know deep down inside it might not be a good thing because it just feels like I'm forgetting my roots, but people have to move on. The past was great, it was memorable and eventful, but being stuck in the past would just mean a miserable old person - you have to hold on to the past but yet embrace what is in front of you.




I'll end it here about social night with those photos. These few weeks have been rather relaxed and easy. We didn't see much tekan-ing or tough activities, but only because it's the end of service term. The end of all the Ex. Centipede and Scorpion King, all the tough things, which is good enough reason for a break. But only I don't deserve it. Thoughts of how I am going to cope with Brunei and Thailand always crosses my mind, seeing that others here now have an edge above me - having been through those exercises. Inevitably a tinge of self-doubt crosses me once in a while. Like how Apple just released the iPhone 4S completely without Steve Jobs' supervision and presence. I compare it to how I felt passing out from Raven in BMT - knowing that you've been through tougher things than others, and as a result, are going to cope better than others in times of tough outfield training. So right here, right now, I decided that I will try to motivate myself by trying to pen down or thing which encourages me to strive on for the week. So whenever I am feeling down, I will look through the journals of every week and gain strength with each passing week.

It was only when I heard the speeches made by the SOHs and SOMs during the commissioning batch's ACPC and dining-in that I realised the importance of this book I am writing on. Even though it is an assignment, for the commanders to read through and make sure that an entry is done every week, the ultimate purpose surpasses that by a lot more. I think that it is ultimately for the cadet himself, not only to serve as a remembrance of the cadet life in OCS, but a collection of everything he has been through, then finally serve as a comparison of how much one has grown in maturity from enlisting.

This week, this is what I want to remind myself about. In life, I am all for experiences. I want to have been through things, which in future, I can look back on and reflect about. I want to have things I can share with others, experiences I can tell others about. And this isn't just about conversation topics. This is about understanding more about the world, understanding how it is like to overcome tough situations you never expect to be able to deal with. Experiences like JCC are things you cannot get anywhere else - no resources, no willpower to put yourself into such situations even if you wanted to anyway. How is life meaningful without new experiences? How is the two years of NS going to be meaningful by doing routined desk work from 8-5 everyday for two years?


And then I spent my night yesterday at Chinatown. My book-outs have been kind of solitary. I try to visit my grandmother every week but then other than that, and once in a while meeting up with my close groups of friends, I haven't seen quite a lot of people in months. It's normal though, I suppose. Everyone's so busy with life and NS and all. Oh but the great thing was yesterday I went to Chinatown. And for the first time I got to sketch Chinatown. I always find it awkward just sitting there by the roadside to sketch the shop houses, but then last night I found this HDB opposite, there was a bench, it was facing the shop houses and it was perfect. I spent close to two hours sketching I think. Though for part of the time I was eating chips and smacking mosquitoes and just chillin' with my music. I would have sketched the third block, but it was becoming too late. But I'm glad cause now I can say that I did something during the weekends. Something solid, something which helps build up myself - skills and all. I'll upload my previous sketch as well, though I think that I've screwed up the mockingbird's head quite badly. I drew that while I was reading the Hunger Games series. Right click > view image for a bigger, clearer view. Notice autographs on the mockingbird? Can you find a Ben Sherman forgery?

Disclaimer: If this post, in any way, feels a bit awkward due to restrictive typing, it is only because this entry is used both as a blog entry as well as a journal entry to my commanders. Oh yes, in OCS, we gotta write an entry each week. So I guess it's good news for you. You'll be hearing a lot less whines and uninteresting soliloquies about National Service.

So it took a social night to really drill into me how exceptionally ungentlemanly I am. And the worst part was it only got into my somewhat thick skull after my buddy told me that his girlfriend said my date, Suwen, was struggling behind me in her heels most of the time. I'm typing this on my (non-camera, I emphasize) iPod Touch in bunk now, with the platoon getting confined and some of us helping out the graduating batch's dining in ceremony tonight. Oh I did try to be gentlemanly though, give me some tiny tiny credit cause I bought roses for Su. But then it's like Nex Mall doesn't have a florist so I had to get them without gift wrapping. Which wasn't a very nice thing to do but I'm sorry that was the first time I bought flowers, so not much experience there. I will got read a self help book about it soon. I promise. I'm kidding. No, maybe I'll really do it. Like a "100 Things You Should NEVER Do When You Are With Your Date" or a "100 Things You MUST Do..." kind of book. Perhaps the most obvious one, a "How To Be A Gentleman, For Dummies".

And then the other take-away I got is that I'm really becoming more anti-social the longer I stay in army. I thought I used to be less awkward. It's like I talked to the platoon mates a lot in BMT, and then in SCS I barely talked to people out of my section. So far in Echo it's been not too bad though, cause everyone's really nice and friendly. So I hope I could change. Social night was a meaningful experience though. I wouldn't say it was extremely fun, but I think it's great exposure to such events that all of us are going to face when we grow up. Makes you feel like an adult, doesn't it? I do regrettably say that in the end, the only commander I engaged in conversation in was Lieutenant Soffian. Gotta work on that too. Another important life skill. So I'm just hoping that the more I attend such events the more natural I get at it - that would be great.

The only complaint I had about the day was the wet weather. It really foiled the plans. Especially when it started - there wasn't a complete covered walkway to the parade square from carpark I, then we didn't have dining tables and chairs to sit on because they were stuck in the rain, so we had to hold our plates of food and drinks and for me, an additional camera and a champagne bottle. I don't have four hands. So that was quite chaotic. But as the night went on, the rain died down and things got a lot better, so that was with thanks to the organizing committee. By coincidence, or perhaps some fate, some people I knew from different phases of my life turned out to be the dates of the fellow Echo cadets, but I felt like it was quite a pity because in the end I didn't much manage to have a nice chat with a lot of them, with us rushing around to find people (whom we already know) and all. Maybe if I did it another time, I'll put real effort into making new friends instead of going about looking for our good friends, which I guess, unfortunately, most people ended up doing because it was most comfortable that way.

But it was a pleasant experience, in an overall sense. I feel more like an officer cadet, less of a specialist cadet. I know deep down inside it might not be a good thing because it just feels like I'm forgetting my roots, but people have to move on. The past was great, it was memorable and eventful, but being stuck in the past would just mean a miserable old person - you have to hold on to the past but yet embrace what is in front of you.




I'll end it here about social night with those photos. These few weeks have been rather relaxed and easy. We didn't see much tekan-ing or tough activities, but only because it's the end of service term. The end of all the Ex. Centipede and Scorpion King, all the tough things, which is good enough reason for a break. But only I don't deserve it. Thoughts of how I am going to cope with Brunei and Thailand always crosses my mind, seeing that others here now have an edge above me - having been through those exercises. Inevitably a tinge of self-doubt crosses me once in a while. Like how Apple just released the iPhone 4S completely without Steve Jobs' supervision and presence. I compare it to how I felt passing out from Raven in BMT - knowing that you've been through tougher things than others, and as a result, are going to cope better than others in times of tough outfield training. So right here, right now, I decided that I will try to motivate myself by trying to pen down or thing which encourages me to strive on for the week. So whenever I am feeling down, I will look through the journals of every week and gain strength with each passing week.

It was only when I heard the speeches made by the SOHs and SOMs during the commissioning batch's ACPC and dining-in that I realised the importance of this book I am writing on. Even though it is an assignment, for the commanders to read through and make sure that an entry is done every week, the ultimate purpose surpasses that by a lot more. I think that it is ultimately for the cadet himself, not only to serve as a remembrance of the cadet life in OCS, but a collection of everything he has been through, then finally serve as a comparison of how much one has grown in maturity from enlisting.

This week, this is what I want to remind myself about. In life, I am all for experiences. I want to have been through things, which in future, I can look back on and reflect about. I want to have things I can share with others, experiences I can tell others about. And this isn't just about conversation topics. This is about understanding more about the world, understanding how it is like to overcome tough situations you never expect to be able to deal with. Experiences like JCC are things you cannot get anywhere else - no resources, no willpower to put yourself into such situations even if you wanted to anyway. How is life meaningful without new experiences? How is the two years of NS going to be meaningful by doing routined desk work from 8-5 everyday for two years?


And then I spent my night yesterday at Chinatown. My book-outs have been kind of solitary. I try to visit my grandmother every week but then other than that, and once in a while meeting up with my close groups of friends, I haven't seen quite a lot of people in months. It's normal though, I suppose. Everyone's so busy with life and NS and all. Oh but the great thing was yesterday I went to Chinatown. And for the first time I got to sketch Chinatown. I always find it awkward just sitting there by the roadside to sketch the shop houses, but then last night I found this HDB opposite, there was a bench, it was facing the shop houses and it was perfect. I spent close to two hours sketching I think. Though for part of the time I was eating chips and smacking mosquitoes and just chillin' with my music. I would have sketched the third block, but it was becoming too late. But I'm glad cause now I can say that I did something during the weekends. Something solid, something which helps build up myself - skills and all. I'll upload my previous sketch as well, though I think that I've screwed up the mockingbird's head quite badly. I drew that while I was reading the Hunger Games series. Right click > view image for a bigger, clearer view. Notice autographs on the mockingbird? Can you find a Ben Sherman forgery?

emails: chew.bolong.2009@vjc.sg (main) / bolong02@hotmail.com (dominated by junk mail)
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bolong
mobile phone: yeah you wish.