The Weekly Update.......



Yes ! I've finally gotten a gamboy advance sp ! childish as I may seem ( and I am in every single manner c-h-i-l-d-i-s-h ) YES I'VE FINALLY GOTTEN ONE !! let the world celebrate and jump for joy. well, you can't blame me. I've too much mon... nah kidding :D I'm just sooo bored in camp ! my course doesnt recommence until the 9th of may, and we're really doing jackshit.



YES ! my saturday morning was not wasted, like the previous five days were. staff chua gave us two options, whether we wanted to try out rugby with the RSN rugby girls, or do area cleaning. the majority of 'em went to area clean, for obvious reasons like sleeping in their cabins. I'm so happy, thought I wouldnt have a chance at rugby again after graduating from jc. played touch with the girls team and 2 safsa indian fellas. ( somehow they regconised that i'm from nyjc when we were passing balls in a circle. queer. ) thought we'd lose, but we won in the end. kurt and I scored a try each ! the girls were lousier than I thought... they're actually no better than the jc touch ruggers.

Oh I so hope my left eye's healthy again. It's such a bother. AND the selections are next month. praying hard I'll make the team...







-time flies........approximately 19 more months to ORD.........-

So fustrating. official Liberty ( which is the naval term for book-out ) was at 1200, but only booked out at 1240. that's simply how efficient our armed forces are, as much as they'd like to boast. it left a lot of built-up fustration in me, and it only cooled off when john came over.


I'm getting the hang of it, again. going back to camp's like a norm to me, besides, we get to watch movies every tuesday and thursday nights. my unit's pretty welfare, considering that we've got slackers for course commanders. oh i dont think i've mentioned that brian liang's in my course too. wait, i meant, was. he's out-of-course, gonna downgrade i think.. but clarence the councillor's in my class =) always talking about porn, that one.. hehehehehe...


Speaking of people i know, it's a SMALL WORLD ! apparently, one of my better friends in the navy, parvin, is venkut's cousin, and venkut's girlfriend is prakash's sister. kinda smallll eh ? then there's jonathan the president of the pugi. society in school. and guowei, my fellow front rower back in our rugby days, is my cabin mate as well.


Oh yea, about rugby. IPPT test was this morning, but the navy rugby women's team was having their practice. one of the dudes there, this Major, came over to ask who wanted to play. i'm so excited !! i thought my rugby days were over. then again, they could very well be, if my eye specialist doesnt give me the green light on my next appointment.. so scared i'd not be able to play anymore =( that'll be bloody sad. but the medical centre's taking so long for my med. review. annoying. another example of our efficient armed forces.



Singapore Sevens 05, its that time of the year again ! this time i'm going with dad. yay. but it'll only be for a while though. 'right, to bed then. beach road tmr to get my no. 3 uniforms done and then off to the national stadium !



It's the World in Union

Oh My God !














Well, I suppose I am :D


Look at the tons of notes I've to go through just for cutter rowing. grrr. went cutter rowing ( a cutter's actually a boat maned by 8 rowers, a bowman and a cowxien Idunnohowtospellthisword. the cowxien, pronounced Cock-Sen, is someone like a captain of a ship, or cutter for this instance. ) or rather, was supposed to. my eye specialist gave me a slip saying that I'm excused from physical activities for an entire month. now that may sound like a gift from Above to any serviceman, but it'll really suck, putting back all that weight I've lost through BMT...... arghhh whcih reminds me, I'm going through navy BMT, so it's a 5 and a 1/2 day week for me again for another 3 months !!! urgh. when the government promised us a 5 day week, they really knew how to twist it. but I dunno if I'm gonna get downgraded because of my eye thingie. sigh... if it's THAT bad, I might not even be able to play rugby for life... =(


Hope not. but downgrading wouldnt be so bad. I might be able to go home everyday then. oh, sorry for the previous entry. think I sounded a littttlee cross.




Had dinner with john and teck. dad's treat. they seemed a bit embarrassed. dunno why. john ate THREE BOWLS OF RICE ! THREE !! I'd usually go up to two, but john had THREE !!!! omg Civil Defence dont feed their trainees as well as the Republic of Singapore Navy does. then, we caught The Pacifier. vin diesel's funny, but he's got a real nice body... working to it.... I'm only at 1percent of his state... lol... but I'll work on the other 99....


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Oh the anticipation. I really cant wait any longer, but we all must. YES. I am talking about the one, the last One, the one to end all ones.. the one to.................... nah it's not really like that. I'm actually talking about The One........ Star Wars : Episode 3 , The Revenge of the Sith. everyone knows what happens, even before Episode 1 was screened in 1999. anakin falls to the dark side, he battles his old master obiwan and loses, gets tossed into a volcano or something close to that, and that's why he's got to wear the Vader suit to survive. bla bla. but the thing is, everyone wants to know How, not Why. that's why G. Lucas did the movies :D a bonus to that, he's got wookies in it. not just one wookie, but an entire planet of 'em. then there's anakin killing every jedi and probably even count dooku. it's a wonder he never fought yoda. that would really be interesting... who would come out triumphant ? well, no one knows, but they did die at the same time, in the same movie.


After all that, I dunno about anyone else, but I do find it The saddest irony of any fictional story. one man was destined to bring balance to the Force, the one who'd probably end the dark side once and for all, the one who, in the end, fell, but not because he succumbed to the powers of the darker end, but he did it for love. and to deepen the tragedy, instead of saving padme, he kills her in the process.


So, he kills the one he loves, falls to the dark side and in so doing gives up on his actual destiny to bring balance to the Force. what a tragedy. you know, I can feel it. I meant, the endind scenes in episode three ? Lucas'd probably have Vader risen by Palpatine, Obiwan going to the distant planet of tatooine to hand Luke over to the Owens, Leia to Alderaan, Yoda to Dagobah...



Ah but it all comes to a happy ending some time later, wont it ? :) but the only apparent flaw in the movie now is that it's m-13 !!!! how could they actually put an age limit on a Star Wars flim !?!?!?!??!?!?!?! it's a bloody crime for GOD's sake ! God grant mercy on the poor fools.








May 19th !!! can't wait. it's a date worth going AWOL for !

The US has to understand this, the conflict between China and Taiwan is not ( yes, IS. NOT. )about Democracy versus non-Democracy. it's nothing like the cold war, it's nothing like north and south korea, and neither is it like vietcong and vietnam. it is about gaining lost pride and face. it's obtaining back what was originally hers, and not conquering an entirely foreign entity. she's got every right to get taiwan back, by force or not. it's not like the US'll sit by and watch its states grant self-independence one by one.



Not that i care if China fires its 600 ballistic missiles onto Taiwan's major cities. the mainlanders are annoying and rude, but the taiwanese arent any better. but it'll be a shame when all that xiao long baos get splattered all over taipei's streets when the missiles come in. wait wait i'm digressing...... yeah, sure taiwan's got their own national service, and i'm very sure they'd do more than sting China when provoked. BUT. the main land has the largest army ( 2.5 mil for the infantry alone. we're not even counting the navy and air force. ) this isnt singapore versus malaysia. this is taiwan against CHINA. they could just throw 2.5 mil footsoldiers and let 'em get slaughtered and re-conscript another 2.5 mil. what's 2.5 mil when you've got a population of over 1 000 million ? its leaders'll be helping to eradicate the world's population explosion problem !




Then again, her navy's not advanced enough to transport so many troops for a full scale invasion at any one time.but dont worry, it aint as powerful as singapore's. with 6 missile corvettes, 6 gun boats, 6 patrol crafts, 4 landing ship tanks, we're supposedly this southeast asia's number one navy. Bah ! who cares. i really don't.


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Has everyone written those essays for the online applications to the universities ? i didnt. it's supposed to be an essay on talents, and i suppose those who have written's got the advantage over those who dont. talents ? what ever talent i have, or had, would've been lost during my time now in the SAF....


Ah yes the SAF. the one question every man asks : Why must we serve ? really.. i dont find that i've gained anything from my experience so far, though people tell me that i have, for the better. i'm wasting 2 years of my time, instead when i should be studying, not that i like studying ( you see, i tend to see "studying" as an ineludible but necessary painintheass one must go through in life. ) HOWEVER, national service is not. necessary ? probably. but it does NOT make any sense to me, the way studying does.


We're always rushing to wait. you know how they tell you our armed forces are extremely efficient ? yea, well, it probably is when it comes to mobilisation and reaction-time when war comes, but we waste hundreds of hours just waiting for something to happen. one of the best examples, any guy would agree, will be Live Range. here's how it is : we fire three times, once in the morning, afternoon and at night time. we reach the range by 7.30. we wait for our turn to shoot. the actual shooting lasts only 15 minutes after 12-16 rounds are spent. then you wait a couple of hours till noon time. then you fire for another 15 minutes. let's say, you're the first detail, and you've fired at 1pm. you're done by 1.20pm, so you wait another couple of hours till it's like 7.30pm. then, night range will commence. by the time your company finishes, it's already 11.30, close to 12. we clean up, pack up, then we reach company line by 1am to 2.

The hours i could've spent reading an excellent book or exploring the wonders of the world, wasted just on Waiting.



Oh, wanna know what i've been doing last week ? monday was fun, fun sitting at the training area below my cabin for hours, then we go up to change for lunch, march to the cookhouse, then march back to the area to wait, again. a few hours later they tell us to head up to clean up. then it's 6 and we go for dinner. this cycle repeats itself for the next few days. they told us that they kept us in last week so that we could familiarise ourselves first, since training only starts on tuesday the 5th. want my opinion ? What A Fucking Waste Of Time.



Once, i debated with my social studies teacher in secondary school how my brother used to detest national service, and what a waste of time it was. i agreed, and she said that ns is a "must" for all guys. she made the fact that i was unfit, of course i wouldnt want to be in ns. now that i think of it, fuck you. you're a woman. you dont serve national service. you dont understand the feeling of sleeping in your bed at home only once, or the most twice, a week. you dont know the precious hours we waste just to wait, then rush again to wait. you dont know the irrational things that our superiors tell us to do, like leopard crawling in full battle order during field camp, or helping to carry the 10litre jerry cans when we're accused from heavy duties. you dont understand the feeling of not seeing your friends and loved ones until the weekends...

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Oh i dunno what came over me. i'm feeling a little fustrated now. and my left eye a little uncomfortable. oh yeah, to change the subject, i went for my eye check up on friday, the reason being me having night blindness, or so i think have. the specialist said it's more due to myopia that my vision at night's terrible. then he did a thorough check up on me, and then he found out that my left retina was detached, meaning there's a tiny tear somewhere in my left eye ball leaking. if it persists i might go blind in the left. it was quite scary, really, him telling me that i've got to for an operation, or a laser surgery. in the end we did the laser thing, which kinda feels like something's nudging your eyeball gently a few hundred times over. it's not painful.. more like.. uncomfortable... but anyway, i'm going for another check up this coming tuesday.. hopefully everything's fine........




But thank God for the check up. if i hadnt gone for it, i wouldnt have known about the retina detachment in the first place.