Sunday, February 29, 2004

   weekdays are filled with lotsa tough training but slowly n surely we're building up chemistry and camaraderie. i believe no matter which unit you are posted to, you still whine abt its cons. maybe some things in life, you've gotta grind your teeth and endure. suck thumb in army terms. but once u've gotten used to life there, it won't be that bad anymore. i've learnt. it's true. don't compare. never do that. somethings juz ain't meant to be compared. you'll be a lot happier following this rule. /*bean has gotten used to life in One Guards*/

   i'm still getting a silver for my ippt although my running timing is getting more n more satisfying. i outdid myself again. 9 min 19 seconds for my last run. missed my last soc though coz i had severe blisters that day after the 6km run. completed 7km run too. completed 1.5km swim too! chin ups STILL 8!! DarnZ !

   weekends r days that contained the most precious time in my life. (for the next 2 years.) i cannot tolerate wasting a day of a weekend away. 27th march i'll be stuck in camp though. guard duty again. i've juz served my first guard duty on friday.(2 days ago) i was assigned the job of a prowler paired with Eeping. 2nd shift. the system here is different from SI. Prowling at one guards for every 2 hours allows 4 hours of rest. however the for every checkpoint we had to comms back to guard room. time needed to travel from checkpoint to checkpoint is oni 5 minutes max. 12 stations in an hour. the pace we adobted is like fast march like that. not slack at all. at every checkpoint we had to sign a log book stating the time. thus, if there's a check, there's no way i can slack away in a corner like in SI. darnZ! Eeping tripped n fell on our second prowl. haha.. i got a shock lor.. i was trying to write on the piece of prowling survey paper when he tripped n rolled over twice. stunt sia...

   by saturday, i was shagged. din get much of a rest after guard duty. watched a vcd with apple. got a card. heh.. very happie... she seemed in a rather good mood. i lurve her to stay this way forever. heh.. thanx dear. i fell asleep for a while during the show. hmm... it was pretty complicated or rather maybe i was dumb n couldn't understand lor... but then she couldn't understand it either. haha.. but she sorta like the movie la..

   sunday morning i awoke with a stiffness in my left knee. arrived at harbour front late to meet the guys. lotsa ppl fly kite lei.. sianz. can't understand y some ppl would rather sleep late than have fun.. different ppl different priorities la... sianz.. for me, i'll rather hv not enuff sleep then sleep in camp. if not for my injury, i would hv gone to sentosa alone... i hope my injury recovers faster. then i can play hard again.. heh... next week soccer with kp n frenz. i'm realli plannin for every sunday i hv sia... haha.. my frens are taking turns having me on sundays.
Blabbered bean @ 19:18 //

Sunday, February 22, 2004

   this is my second time writing this entry. u can imagine what happened to a few unfortunate stools in my room. browser error arghs.... i hate it when this happens... rush rush rush... every weekend is the same. i've always got a lack of time for things. haiz. no time to whine more. straight into the story...

   monday was plain sailing n we seemed to have gotten used to life n training in one guards. then the visit of RSM for a talk. it spells trouble as loud as T - R - O - U - B - L - E !!!!!!!!!!! By evening time, we had gotten wind from our platoon sergeant of the impending storm. a tekan session at 2000h that night. monday night n we had to endure this shit... drats.. what a bad way to start the week.

   i wouldn't think i had any fault at all coz firstly we booked out on saturday unlike the rest of the company who booked out on friday night. moreover, i wasn't one of those who had guard duty on that saturday(which happened to be valentine's day) & didn't turn up with an excuse of attend c. And i wasn't the one who reported with attend c yet caught not at home by the COS who called his house all day long. so, i deem myself outta blame. we shouldn't be punished. it was juz that black sheep. if u want, punish him but y us? we r the ones who booked out on saturday at faraway bedok n obediently turned up every sunday night faithfully...

   some of the tekan-ing u could read from my phlogs probably if u had been following.. well,... it includes plenty of alternate leg thrusts, 150 counts of eight of jumping jacks & lotsa pushups & crunches !! in short, the experience was xiong! there was even change parade. admin to smart four in 2 minutes? it's impossible...

   tuesday morning we were change paraded again... someone moved in the file they say.. but who lnows? i would skin the guy who moved that morning.. pt kit to admin to smart four. pumped, jacked & crunched... sweated too.. living a life as stressful as this ain't good for us. we couldn't sleep when we had the breaks in between lessons n training. n our muscles were aching from all the jacking etc...

   but,... as i believed. once wednesday is over, it'll be much easier to live out the week. after soc, the rest of the week would be realli considered nothing near the xiongness during the start of the week at all.. i was delighted to noe i had passed my soc with a timing of 9min flat. bicycle hook helps perhaps. having no toggle rope might have an impact too.. haha...

   thursday & friday basically nothing much to comment about except for swimming training(1km swim), ippt trainining & games day where i played soccer. saturday was ippt test. i couldn't get a gold. i was realli disgusted to find that i could oni jump 225++ but not my last jump of 234. disappointment lor... pullups i could oni do my usual 8. y no improvement? sianz ah... running was my best event n perhaps my most satisfying result in this ippt test. i ran a 9.26 breaking my previous personal best of 9.39 in my first ippt test in one guards. the run was a lil' no kick in the sense that our bodies were sorta used to the looooong runs like 6km n 7km already n then suddenly oni 2.4km. so feel a lil' no kick lor... got silver overall... but still a big disappointed. shall try harder next week.

   saturday planned to meet her but din. she was tired. more disappointment. wasted half my day online at home. night fell n i went to uncle place to watch soccer. newcastle beat boro 2-1 at st. james' park. shearer saved the blushes realli coz their performances was shitty.

   sunday morning i met jm for breakfast prata at casuarina. heh.. i had one kosong, one cheese n half a milky prata. jm had 3 kosong, one cheese and half a milky prata. we shared a plate of mutton too.. we walked home after that. as we walked, we caught up with one another's life in army. all the tekan, tuff training etc... it is always nice to catch up with good frens.. we rested a while at my place using the internet for awhile before i met apple for a movie. we watched "along came polly". it was a nice show. i had similarities with characters in the show that i can't make up my mind n i realli like to live life on the edge a lil'... she is the more cautious n conservative type.. i had my dinner n got sent her home. oh ya, we tried to get cheryl a gift but we had only got some stickers to show for our effort. coz that's the only thing michelle told me she liked. well, i'll try finding again next week with her. now to pack n book in....
Blabbered bean @ 20:50 //

Sunday, February 15, 2004

   I don't have much of a time today.. heh.. after watching a vcd it's already 2000h already... n i haven packed my stuff, eat & bath yet!! drats!! so i shall cut short my summary of life in One Guards for the past week.

   Monday i cannot remember liao. Tuesday i cannot remember liao too!! however the 80 push-ups a day policy still continues.. Wednesday we had our SOC test. i tried my best & cleared every single obstacle. My timing couldn't meet the Guards timing of 9.29 though. so considered fail lah.. haiz.. i must buck up on my low rope. i wasted plenty of precious time there.. however i took pride in never stopping to walk at all.. at least jog i told myself in my head.

   Straight after the SOC run, the instructors told us to run SBO-attired for an additional 3km! that was physically strenuous. i even had to fight off stitches due to the gulping of lotsa water during the brief stretch break we had after the run. But,... i survived for the long-awaited valentine weekend.. heh ;)

   Thursday we had a 4km run. Due to the previous day's exerts, me and EePing decided to "relac" a lil' by jogging our way throughout the 4km thinking that by running slower we would be less shag n become a purely relaxing run. but no! in the end, even though we started very very slowly jogging, we still came up 2nd n 3rd in the run.. in the midst of fighting off stitches n exhaustion, we think that finishing the race earlier would hv been the best relief for us. The rest of the day was routine SMG, some night training(which is also another 4km run) & lessons on signals.

   Friday was a 5km run!! yes! another run.. drats... they can't get more boring than making us run n run n run... or doing SMG targetting either upper body or abs.. it's always all these or pumping.. ultra sianz... for the 5 km run i ran my heart out. i even felt my ten toes numbed when i was running. i clocked 20 minutes n 20 seconds for my 5 km run which i calculated as 4 minute n 4 seconds for each kilometre... not bad eh? yeah i ran first again. Eeping ran 2nd. yeah! that's the way i want it. i want to be first eeping 2nd n then timothy. i dun realli like that Tim guy. he is often extra. too garang liao.. sianz. k, nuff of bitching.. :P

   friday night was nights out for us & long weekend for the rest of the camp! yeah, while they enjoy their long weekend, our platoon have to go to 3rd guards camp at bedok for some thinkathon on saturday. but i rushed my dirty clothes home to wash, used the internet n enjoyed a nice rest n chat on the phone with apple dear.. heh.. ;-)

   saturday was thinkathon. pride day they call it. were extras there actually. we weren't needed at all actually... then valentine's day after i booked out an hour later than scheduled. :-(

   met her at harbour front mrt. decided to bring her to get a cablecar ride. heh... it was her first time on a cablecar.. i'm proud n glad to be part of her first cablecar ride. god knows when was my last ride on it too! heh... perhaps i was the one who was a lil' more afraid.. haha.. we had tea break at a cafe got got ourselves a pot of love. yeah i like the picture i took of it n is using it as my msn photo n also my friendster photo. visited sentosa for a while n decided that we should be coming back sooner rather than later on another seperate day. there's just too much we couldn't cover by the end of the day.. yeah, i passed her the necklace too... she says she liked it. well, maybe she does like just about anything i get her.. haha...

   sunday i met up with david at his church service. it was held in the hall of PLMGSS. it was brrr-ingly cold in there... david played his drums real well... though i din realized that he was finding it really hard to follow onto the tune. he said it was due to the fact that the speakers ain't facing him n he couldn't hear the singer clearly.. i wished i hadn't forgotten to shoot that down on video.. hmmm... another time maybe...

   sometimes i realli was thinking whether i could blend into the going to church every sunday morning. i can't bear to even if i want actually. i got so many activities that i would have to forsake. haha... n dav n i had a good time reminiscing the good ol' days of "studying hard" last minute. met up with his mum too.. a very nice lady.. haha.. she said i looked fit. guardsman whoa.. haha always ready to strike lei... heh... but i did like the comment that i had slimmed down a lot since poly dayz. heh... i wanna be slimmer still.. yeah, i can be quite vain ah... haha

   now 2029h liao... gotta go rush to eat, bath then pack my bag n book in by 2115h. gtg dudes... i can't wait for the beaches of sentosa on sunday with kp, dn, jm, jonas n kelvo!! too bad dav can't be joining us.. he's in brunei by then in his jungle survival course.. here's an informal prayer wishing health of uncle john's mother who's in hospital after a heart attack n may the lord bless dav in brunei too... amen.. kekeke... is that the way to pray? haha... i gtg... byee
Blabbered bean @ 20:30 //

Sunday, February 08, 2004

   Guards was hell for us.. first week in Dieppe Barrack... were greeted with a rude taste of Specific Muscle Group (SMG) Training... It was like this... First was 15 standard push-ups where ur chest hv to touch the ground n ur body parallel to the ground. all this done at a veri slow timing given by the instructor. then followed by 15 T-shaped push-ups where ur hands are placed wider than ur shoulder width. then followed by 15 spider push-ups. then 15 diamond push-ups. Sometimes they'll add a new variety like Diver push-ups where ur body must follow a certain curvy motion like a swimmer diving down n coming up in a reverse order. we did abt 4 sets of this. :(

   After all the pumping, my arms were really aching n longed for a rest. upon given the rest break, i wanted to sit down. wanting to use my hand to support my weight as i prepare to sit, my arms gave way. they din have enuff energy to support me anymore.. i fell freakly from that action. i couldn't believe that my arms had no more strength anymore..

   then we got to know that every wednesday there'll be a soc training. freaking shag event lor... sianz... worse was to come. after the tiring session of clearing the soc, our oc made us run sbo attired for another 2km.. marched n hentak kaki for a long time too!! damn shackled but he gave us an incentive by the end of the training by giving us a nights off till 2200h. i went home to surf n enjoyed a bath. talking abt baths juz reminds me that the lights in my platoon's toilet were spoilt n we would hv to brush teeth, shit n bath in the darkness!! i dun mind brushing up in the dark but bath n shit? ecks!

   everyday was torturous for us as we trained SMG quite often. targetting our abs, upper body n certain specific body parts each time. abs training was like we do 40 flutterkicks then 40 scissors kicks... it didn't hurt my abs much but my thighs were on the verge of cramping up... before every meal, we'll have an chinup regime.. at least 6 chinups else kena pump again..

   every saturday would be an ippt test where we had the 4 specific stations namely: sit-ups, pull-ups, standing broad jump(SBJ) & shuttlerun. then the tiring 2.4km run. i did the test with these proud results: 46 sit-ups in a minute, 8 chin-ups, 234cm jump, 9.7 second shuttle run & 9 minute 39 seconds for 2.4km run (Yippee!! i broke my previous record of 9 min 47 seconds !!) the scary part was that if the oc is not happy with ur effort/results in ur ippt test, he can give u Remedial Training(RT)... that means while those who did satisfactorily would be able to book out at 1200h while u book out at 1700h after doing more training... Freaking low morale right?

   i booked out with much joy on my face. guess u could tell from my wide smile if u'd met me that day... haha.. met apple at northpoint shopping centre. intended to bring her into a jewellery shop to buy a necklace for her. but she refused to go with me. she kept saying no need to buy la... dunno whether she realli dun want the gift or she dun want me to hv her tag along to buy. think she wants me to buy by myself la. more sincere maybe...

   walked around n shopped for some groceries like viennese sausages, 2 cans of mushroom soup n a few cans of coffee to add to the lovestruck pizza meal i ordered from pizzahut! she had a bad cough n i had to be careful in choosing food. no spicy stuff for her then.

   on the way home, i had also bought 2 croissants for dipping into the soup.. hehe... upon reaching home, i returned my father the money for the meal coz he had signed for it. then i proceed to making the soup for her. it was my first try but with some minor advice from dad, i was able to make some good soup.. slurpy!! at the same time, i had grilled some sausages too !! From the spicy chicken drumlets to the croissants to the sausages to the soup to the pizza to the cans of coffee... we had a sumptuous meal in front of us.. heh.. it was a happy day as she finally had the smile i wanted.. it was hard to get her to smile n be happy but i could sense she was indeed that day... hard-earned sia... heh... :D

   sunday was less eventful but i went out in my new sandals.. got them the previous night while shopping at amk centre where i got myself n her a few vcds which was going at an amazing rate. 35 bucks for 5 movies. i got spiderman, and some chinese movies... yeah back to sunday... i went to orchard and then bugis with kp, dn, jiahao & chiro. got my necklace. heh.. i dunno how to choose so hope she dun mind. i choose one with a heart-shaped diamond on it. heh... we walked around somemore before me n kp took cab home. i surfed net n arranged a meeting with dav next sunday at his church.. hmmm... intend to attend service too!! am i crazy? i dun believe in god... duhz.. heres hoping saturday come sooner than i thought... :D
Blabbered bean @ 19:03 //

Monday, February 02, 2004

   *Sigh* Resigning to fate, i went back to find my usual happy self. Lemme do some update. Monday was a boring day. Radio Test. Having not studied for it on Sunday night, our whole platoon scored pretty badly. A few were really unlucky, like HongYu & HockBeng, who failed by juz a question. I scored 60% though. Passed the test but deep down i was a lil' disappointed coz all my previous results had been 80% and above.

   Tuesday was pretty much the same as Monday. This time is Combat Comms Test. With all the tips that were taken down via the mouth of our CC, Mr SivaRaja, we juz couldn't fail. i scored 51 marks out of 60 for my Section A (MCQ). For Section B, i scored 15 marks out of 18. For Section C, we weren't told our score. so it's 66 marks in the bag. I don't think CC doesn't even need to mark my last section (Long Question Answer).. haha... coz in army, they're juz concerned in getting you to pass. that's all.

   Wednesday was test for CCIS. 3 tests in a row. so you could imagine our nights were pretty stressed out as we had already done badly on monday's test. Thus didn't wanna infuriate our CC further. We returned all our stores in the evening and discovered the loss of 10 AF Adaptors. For your info, they cost abt SGD$200+ each!! That adds up to a whooping $2k+ !! If we were to divide the cost among the 30 of us in our platoon, it would still be about 80+ for each of us.

   We searched high and low for the 10 AF Adaptors. From our G.store to our individual field packs. We even searched some other platoon's G.Store. But our best efforts were in vain. I served my extra guard duty from 7pm till 7am the next morning. I prowled together with Bryan. We chit-chat a lot and went through all ppl in the top ten peer appraisal list. Bitching also got lah.. haha..

   Basically, we walk one round in our first prowl when we were supposed to prowl for 2 rounds in the 2 hours. then our 2nd prowl we went searching for places to sleep. we found our way to our bunk. then we tried to wake them up by making some noise like clocking our guns. but they din move. so we decided to sleep at the left over beds. but due to a guilty conscience, we couldn't sleep well either. afraid of over-sleeping n also afraid of being discovered. Then Bryan went to his cupboard n retrieve some camo cream. he painted their faces.. haha... n their spects too.. meanwhile, i switched their spectacles around. The 3rd prowl was pure sleeping at lecture block. we were too shag to move liao. then we went to spy at them scurry around bunk at around 5.20am from downstairs.. n we really luffed our hearts out... haha...

   Thursday morning was really tiring for the guard duty personnels due to the fact we ween't given any time to rest before we had to go for the presentation of our certs of completing the signal course in S.I. and also a CC disposal where he announced i had gotten 5th in peer appraisal n 3rd in studies n also in overall performance. heh.. quite happy to noe i'm quite well-liked lah.. hee hee... :) bryan was splashed with a pail of water of which i kena some on my pants too... i was lucky la... though i can vow that i din camo their faces. i wouldn't want camo cream on my hands...

   frantic investigating of what happened to our 10 AF Adaptor took place. i did my part as publication ic by collecting n accounting for all the manuals too as part of returning of stores. it wasn't until around lunch time that got wind that another platoon have the 10 lost AF Adaptors. in a way, we felt angry with them as we had appealed to the other platoons to return any extra AF Adaptor which could have been handed over to them accidentally and they hadn't responded. then after wasting all our effort in searching high and low, they come out n say it's been with them all along.. anyway, we were also a lil' relieved la... no need to sign twelve O Six. which means paying for the lost/damaged item.

   Friday was departing day. we got to know our posting and waited for our repective units to come and fetch us. one by one, we departed. first to go was 1SIR(Support Infantry). then 42SAR(Armor). Finally (20SAR)Artillery. which left the 22 1st Guards- bound "sway" personnels. we waited till 1630h n still no tonner to fetch us. upon informing manpower, we were told to come back tomolo n wait again. we booked out n were told to report at 0745h the next morning.

   the tonner came at around 9+ on the bright sunny saturday. we reach the camp around 10. a briefing ensued then the unpacking of our duffel bags into our bunks. then an orientation after a briefing n appointment of all the respective ICs... i was appointed PT IC after he decided to take a peep at our 2.4km running timings. after the orientation run, we were allowed to book out. all the worst thoughts cloud us. our mood plunged. the rest of the saturday i was sulking n had no mood to go out. i slept my day away. evening i went amk centre to shop n looked around. i got a pair of t-shirts for apple n me. heh..

   sunday was soccer in the morning. afternoon we went to sim lim n i got my wish of an optical mouse. 23 bucks. i also shared the cost of 100 CDRs with jm. 50 each i guess.. it costs $35 for 100 discs so $17.50 each. evening was a get together for S.I. Info Com 2 Operator Jaguar Platoon Bunk 2... but oni shuwei, bryan, hongyu, eeping & binghuang came for the makan session at marina south. after eating to our hearts' content, we went orchard.

   chaffeured by Mr Huang HongYu, they were thrilled by his confident driving skills. i had, of coz, got my experience ahead of them when we went for prata makan session. we went macdonald's for ice-cream. i had juz a drink though. ktv next. we had fun laughing at one another. haha.. n eeping had a realli good voice. he kept singing andy lau's songs n initially after coming back from the toilet, i thought they hadn't turn off the audio of andy lau singing but in actual fact it was eeping's voice. impressive!!

   after ktv, we went for prata at jalan kayu. this time chaffeured by lianghua who joined us for the ktv session. we took separate cabs home after the supper. reaching home at 3+am i surfed around for a while before sleeping at around 4+. i woke up late for my meeting with apple. i was supposed to meet her at 0930h. she called me at 0930h to wake me up. i rushed down via cab n got there around 0950h. we had breakfast n i sent her home. she wasn't feeling well thus had cancelled our going out ... haiz... though disappointed at heart, i didn't wanna force her. so i told her to get a good rest n recover soon. then here i am at home typing this super duper long entry... haha...

   Eecks.. i shaved my hair after meeting her too.. super short now.. the thought of booking in in smart 4 attire to 1st Guards still lingers as a terrible dreadful thought. wish me good luck.. i still have the "Never ready to strike" mentality instead of guards motto of "always ready to strike"... :P :(
Blabbered bean @ 12:06 //