Bishan park is really now my favourite park in Singapore. Like as if Singapore really had parks to begin with. But Bishan park, in Ang Mo Kio, really amazes me. As I did my 4am morning jog today after clubbing at an SMU organized Halloween party at Old School, the Mt. Sophia art gallery, I ran to Bishan Park for the second time. What amazes me is how big Bishan park is. While I'm strolling through it, I can't help but imagine how many condominium blocks could be built on this land. And then it's like 4 units x 17 floors x how many blocks x $500,000, and I suddenly applaud the government. Whoever came up with the idea of Bishan Park, I adore you. I love the idea of garden cafes within the park. Had I known, and if I was old enough, I would have had a share in it. Regardless of whether or not it can make money, because I know my customers will be people like me. Heck, I mean, I'll find one of my nature-loving girlfriends from the girl who frequents the most. HAH but seriously, if I had one, I would bring my girlfriend here, climb over one of the fences and sneak into the areas which are still under construction, then chill with my music, the lake and the stars. I think I really have a thang there for doing semi-illegal things. Trust me, I've thought about sneaking into shops after hours. The intent of stealing things isn't there - yet? Oh Buddha, someone gotta knock some sense into me before I get into some shit. But anyway, I think Malays appreciate such things (the chillin', not the stealin') more, cause both times I come here in unearthly hours, the only groups of people here are Malay teens or couples.

And then you talk about the nicely lit Macdonalds tucked in a corner of the park, sitting right next to the big lake which flows around and connects the entire park together. I'm on a bridge above the lake right now typing this, and I'm not sure if the bridge is shaking, or if it's my blood pumped against the handlebars I'm leaning on, or if it's the alcohol. But woah, this really is some good shit. You gotta see it for yourself.

I like my new layout. Okay, actually the layout's more or less the same. I only did change the image. It's a bit narcissistic, I know. But nevertheless, when I get time tomorrow (hopefully) I'm going to go update my music player. Then I'll try to find some kind of thing which allows people to leave comments, some kind of CBOX but without spam, to put in the 'chatter' section. After that, my new blog will be fully re-furbished. See you guys around.

Getting to spend time like a civilian really enriches the mind and soul. In the short time I've got for myself today, after meeting the VJ volleyball guys for lunch, I've settled quite a few things, down in my head. The past couple days' been quite good. Had a platoon cohesion of sorts at Sheen's place. The booze was good, and it was nice hanging out with the commanders as friends. We decided to head over to Zouk after that, since almost all of us were drunk enough with headaches, but it sucked. By the time I got out of the cab, I was more of less sober, just having a slight headache and laughing off at some of the rest making conversations with strangers. Phuture was its usual sausage party I guess, so none of us managed to get in. Even with Gavin's connections. But well, though Zouk sucked and wasted a couple hours of my sleep time, it was free at least.

And then I met up with the Hs at City Hall yesterday, had a good long chat and at around 11.30pm, we all parted and I decided to take bus 70M from Suntec back home. I remembered those bus-rides close to midnight after those awesome JC times at Suntec (which consists of whatever random gatherings you wanna include) and wanted that feeling back. But it turned out a bad decision cause it was firstly, a long walk from Esplanade to the bus-stop, and then the bus was pretty much full-up, so I was standing up half the journey. But it still helped. I got close to fifteen minutes of serenity on the bus-ride home. MRT rides are always too brightly lit, too open, too social for a good reflective me-time. And caught up with the team at City Hall (yet again) today - it was really long since I watched a movie in cinemas.

But anyway, since I was in town, I thought I might as well head over to Kinokuniya at Bugis, cause I had books I wanted to get. Plus both my cousin and Ivan messaged me previously about a big ass Fred Perry sale at Illuma. So, why not. It doesn't matter if I traveled solo. I'll talk about the sale first. It was disappointing. The entrance queue was long, but pretty quick. Which was perhaps one of the reasons why it was such a turn off. The other reasons would be how messy everything is, how all the good sizes are out, how all the nice colours are no longer available, and how cheapskate everyone else around you looks. I saw this guy wearing that same olive green FP polo t-shirt later at Orchard. Bet he bought it from the sale just like, one day ago. The only polo tee left on the sale, which had a size of XS, was that same olive green one he wore. You can probably guess why it was the only one(s) left on the rack. But anyway, I went to Kinokuniya with the intention of buying two books. The first, The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, and the next, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.




So, that day at Sheen's house, some of us stepped into his room for a look and they saw a copy of The Intelligent Investor on his table, then told me about how he's pretty much earning quite a lot through investments. Like the people in HC, RJ, so many of them my age are earning money already. I'm many steps behind. So yesterday night, while on the bus 70M, I decided to get home and research on good investment books to buy. Most sites recommended this, so I picked it. I mean, I didn't get the book because I saw Sheen with it. I didn't even get the book because I thought it is the best investment book ever. I didn't even ask Sheen about it. Nor did I bother to read up on its contents and why it's good and blah blah, which I would usually do for a new product I'm about to spend money on. But I thought like, it was a start. Regardless of a good or bad one, a start is a start. I've been too lazy previously, but now that I think about it - I'm going to start investing when I'm older anyway. How else do you make big bucks, you ask. So might as well start early. Get through all the technical shit early, when I'm older, the money shall start rollin' yo. Also, it's a good thing to stop reading fiction novels for a while anyway. But I think it's going to take a lot out of me to start on the book. And then about Hunger Games. It's a great book, no doubt. But I never buy novels (sans Harry Potter, Dan Brown), regardless of whether or not they are great. Okay, in all fairness, I've only started reading as a hobby less than a year ago. But Hunger Games was different. You should have seen how it inspired me during SCS. It was really uncanny, the way I was reading about how Katniss was hunting in the wild during the field camp and outfields in SCS, and then in Mockingjay, while the team was fighting against the Capitol and it's war-machines in the city, I was having Urban Operations training. The way Collins described survival, it wasn't just something a novelist could write. It was part of my initial motivation for the 2.4km run in SCS, the time I attained my Gold for IPPT with a timing of 9.31 for the run, the time I shed more than 40 seconds off my previous timing. It was a lot like fate, and it gave me a lot of motivation. I have to bring it to Brunei. It'll motivate me for JCC. I had to make an extra trip to Orchard because the Bugis outlet didn't have any more stock of The Intelligent Investor. Before that, I did an absolutely embarrassing thing. The lady at the information counter volunteered to check up the Orchard outlet for me, while I did my other shopping, before giving me a call to tell me if the Orchard outlet had stock. And this was while I was queuing up for the Fred Perry sale, to put things in chronological order for you. So yes, she called, I answered, I asked her to additionally check up on stock of Monocle "at the Wheelock outlet", I added. That drew in ten seconds of silence, then an awkward "uhm... we don't have any outlets at Wheelock". It hit me that it was Borders that was in my mind, a folded Borders store, to be exact. She was tactful with not mentioning Borders as well, anyway. But we laughed it off. So, phew. Oh, plus I forgot to mention. I borrowed my brother's Kinokuniya member card the previous night, since I was prepared to get the books, but I think it was really much more than just fate when I decided to get the books today, and then found out that today was the last day of a three-day 20% off all books for members promotion. Buddha bless. Hope I don't start to sound like those over-the-top-ly-devout religious friends you know. You know who I'm talking about. Those who say they deserve the bad things in life as punishment, then thank for every little good thing. No offense though, it's a good thing to believe. And in some ways, a good thing to have so much faith in something as well. But gawddammit, take some control over your own life, cause your God would want that.

This week is going to drain my pockets, I swear. I re-installed the "Spend" app on Friday after Zouk, and timely, after that all the money started rollin' away. Good expenditure though. In the past two days, I've managed to spend a wholesome $221.30. Plus I gotta buy a pair of black leather shoes, cause my brother wants his one back. I've been previously wearing his for all the book-in / book-outs. And then I've only two pairs of dailies contact lenses left, so I'll have to spend another hundred on a pair of boxes. I remember what Tzuhsiang said that day though, about not complaining that you're poor cause it only makes you feel poorer. Plus it's always happy-go-lucky isn't it? And I recall telling myself to stop complaining so much cause it never fails to make the people around you sad / annoyed / angsty / depressed. I've learnt that from hearing my NS mates complain. How did all my friends stand me in the past six years? I don't really know.


Also, I just started reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest which I borrowed from the library. After I'm done with it, I'll watch the film. But right now, I'm still stuck midway in the Introduction. But it is enough to interest me. Reminds me of all the mental exploration I wanted to do when I volunteered at SAMH before enlistment. Many thought-provoking quotes littered all around as well. I'll tell you more when I get around to reading it. Also, when I get the time, I'm going to change this blog's layout, make some more edits here and there. I think I'm going to be blogging for long... so yeah.

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?

Bishan park is really now my favourite park in Singapore. Like as if Singapore really had parks to begin with. But Bishan park, in Ang Mo Kio, really amazes me. As I did my 4am morning jog today after clubbing at an SMU organized Halloween party at Old School, the Mt. Sophia art gallery, I ran to Bishan Park for the second time. What amazes me is how big Bishan park is. While I'm strolling through it, I can't help but imagine how many condominium blocks could be built on this land. And then it's like 4 units x 17 floors x how many blocks x $500,000, and I suddenly applaud the government. Whoever came up with the idea of Bishan Park, I adore you. I love the idea of garden cafes within the park. Had I known, and if I was old enough, I would have had a share in it. Regardless of whether or not it can make money, because I know my customers will be people like me. Heck, I mean, I'll find one of my nature-loving girlfriends from the girl who frequents the most. HAH but seriously, if I had one, I would bring my girlfriend here, climb over one of the fences and sneak into the areas which are still under construction, then chill with my music, the lake and the stars. I think I really have a thang there for doing semi-illegal things. Trust me, I've thought about sneaking into shops after hours. The intent of stealing things isn't there - yet? Oh Buddha, someone gotta knock some sense into me before I get into some shit. But anyway, I think Malays appreciate such things (the chillin', not the stealin') more, cause both times I come here in unearthly hours, the only groups of people here are Malay teens or couples.

And then you talk about the nicely lit Macdonalds tucked in a corner of the park, sitting right next to the big lake which flows around and connects the entire park together. I'm on a bridge above the lake right now typing this, and I'm not sure if the bridge is shaking, or if it's my blood pumped against the handlebars I'm leaning on, or if it's the alcohol. But woah, this really is some good shit. You gotta see it for yourself.

I like my new layout. Okay, actually the layout's more or less the same. I only did change the image. It's a bit narcissistic, I know. But nevertheless, when I get time tomorrow (hopefully) I'm going to go update my music player. Then I'll try to find some kind of thing which allows people to leave comments, some kind of CBOX but without spam, to put in the 'chatter' section. After that, my new blog will be fully re-furbished. See you guys around.

Getting to spend time like a civilian really enriches the mind and soul. In the short time I've got for myself today, after meeting the VJ volleyball guys for lunch, I've settled quite a few things, down in my head. The past couple days' been quite good. Had a platoon cohesion of sorts at Sheen's place. The booze was good, and it was nice hanging out with the commanders as friends. We decided to head over to Zouk after that, since almost all of us were drunk enough with headaches, but it sucked. By the time I got out of the cab, I was more of less sober, just having a slight headache and laughing off at some of the rest making conversations with strangers. Phuture was its usual sausage party I guess, so none of us managed to get in. Even with Gavin's connections. But well, though Zouk sucked and wasted a couple hours of my sleep time, it was free at least.

And then I met up with the Hs at City Hall yesterday, had a good long chat and at around 11.30pm, we all parted and I decided to take bus 70M from Suntec back home. I remembered those bus-rides close to midnight after those awesome JC times at Suntec (which consists of whatever random gatherings you wanna include) and wanted that feeling back. But it turned out a bad decision cause it was firstly, a long walk from Esplanade to the bus-stop, and then the bus was pretty much full-up, so I was standing up half the journey. But it still helped. I got close to fifteen minutes of serenity on the bus-ride home. MRT rides are always too brightly lit, too open, too social for a good reflective me-time. And caught up with the team at City Hall (yet again) today - it was really long since I watched a movie in cinemas.

But anyway, since I was in town, I thought I might as well head over to Kinokuniya at Bugis, cause I had books I wanted to get. Plus both my cousin and Ivan messaged me previously about a big ass Fred Perry sale at Illuma. So, why not. It doesn't matter if I traveled solo. I'll talk about the sale first. It was disappointing. The entrance queue was long, but pretty quick. Which was perhaps one of the reasons why it was such a turn off. The other reasons would be how messy everything is, how all the good sizes are out, how all the nice colours are no longer available, and how cheapskate everyone else around you looks. I saw this guy wearing that same olive green FP polo t-shirt later at Orchard. Bet he bought it from the sale just like, one day ago. The only polo tee left on the sale, which had a size of XS, was that same olive green one he wore. You can probably guess why it was the only one(s) left on the rack. But anyway, I went to Kinokuniya with the intention of buying two books. The first, The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, and the next, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.




So, that day at Sheen's house, some of us stepped into his room for a look and they saw a copy of The Intelligent Investor on his table, then told me about how he's pretty much earning quite a lot through investments. Like the people in HC, RJ, so many of them my age are earning money already. I'm many steps behind. So yesterday night, while on the bus 70M, I decided to get home and research on good investment books to buy. Most sites recommended this, so I picked it. I mean, I didn't get the book because I saw Sheen with it. I didn't even get the book because I thought it is the best investment book ever. I didn't even ask Sheen about it. Nor did I bother to read up on its contents and why it's good and blah blah, which I would usually do for a new product I'm about to spend money on. But I thought like, it was a start. Regardless of a good or bad one, a start is a start. I've been too lazy previously, but now that I think about it - I'm going to start investing when I'm older anyway. How else do you make big bucks, you ask. So might as well start early. Get through all the technical shit early, when I'm older, the money shall start rollin' yo. Also, it's a good thing to stop reading fiction novels for a while anyway. But I think it's going to take a lot out of me to start on the book. And then about Hunger Games. It's a great book, no doubt. But I never buy novels (sans Harry Potter, Dan Brown), regardless of whether or not they are great. Okay, in all fairness, I've only started reading as a hobby less than a year ago. But Hunger Games was different. You should have seen how it inspired me during SCS. It was really uncanny, the way I was reading about how Katniss was hunting in the wild during the field camp and outfields in SCS, and then in Mockingjay, while the team was fighting against the Capitol and it's war-machines in the city, I was having Urban Operations training. The way Collins described survival, it wasn't just something a novelist could write. It was part of my initial motivation for the 2.4km run in SCS, the time I attained my Gold for IPPT with a timing of 9.31 for the run, the time I shed more than 40 seconds off my previous timing. It was a lot like fate, and it gave me a lot of motivation. I have to bring it to Brunei. It'll motivate me for JCC. I had to make an extra trip to Orchard because the Bugis outlet didn't have any more stock of The Intelligent Investor. Before that, I did an absolutely embarrassing thing. The lady at the information counter volunteered to check up the Orchard outlet for me, while I did my other shopping, before giving me a call to tell me if the Orchard outlet had stock. And this was while I was queuing up for the Fred Perry sale, to put things in chronological order for you. So yes, she called, I answered, I asked her to additionally check up on stock of Monocle "at the Wheelock outlet", I added. That drew in ten seconds of silence, then an awkward "uhm... we don't have any outlets at Wheelock". It hit me that it was Borders that was in my mind, a folded Borders store, to be exact. She was tactful with not mentioning Borders as well, anyway. But we laughed it off. So, phew. Oh, plus I forgot to mention. I borrowed my brother's Kinokuniya member card the previous night, since I was prepared to get the books, but I think it was really much more than just fate when I decided to get the books today, and then found out that today was the last day of a three-day 20% off all books for members promotion. Buddha bless. Hope I don't start to sound like those over-the-top-ly-devout religious friends you know. You know who I'm talking about. Those who say they deserve the bad things in life as punishment, then thank for every little good thing. No offense though, it's a good thing to believe. And in some ways, a good thing to have so much faith in something as well. But gawddammit, take some control over your own life, cause your God would want that.

This week is going to drain my pockets, I swear. I re-installed the "Spend" app on Friday after Zouk, and timely, after that all the money started rollin' away. Good expenditure though. In the past two days, I've managed to spend a wholesome $221.30. Plus I gotta buy a pair of black leather shoes, cause my brother wants his one back. I've been previously wearing his for all the book-in / book-outs. And then I've only two pairs of dailies contact lenses left, so I'll have to spend another hundred on a pair of boxes. I remember what Tzuhsiang said that day though, about not complaining that you're poor cause it only makes you feel poorer. Plus it's always happy-go-lucky isn't it? And I recall telling myself to stop complaining so much cause it never fails to make the people around you sad / annoyed / angsty / depressed. I've learnt that from hearing my NS mates complain. How did all my friends stand me in the past six years? I don't really know.


Also, I just started reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest which I borrowed from the library. After I'm done with it, I'll watch the film. But right now, I'm still stuck midway in the Introduction. But it is enough to interest me. Reminds me of all the mental exploration I wanted to do when I volunteered at SAMH before enlistment. Many thought-provoking quotes littered all around as well. I'll tell you more when I get around to reading it. Also, when I get the time, I'm going to change this blog's layout, make some more edits here and there. I think I'm going to be blogging for long... so yeah.

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)
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