it's wednesday night, and i'm not going for mambo. ahh. why why. and i'm booking in later coz my flight's pretty early tmr. ahh.
and i'm drowning in work. there's just so much things to do that never seem to end. i mean, next week's shafting and it's gonna take the whole week. and after that's standby, and then it's poyan demolition live firing. there's no time to take a breather, and i've still gotta prepare so much stuff for uk. my visa's not done. my hsbc account's still not set up. and warwick's just sent in all the payment details and enrolment crap that's a chore to go through coz there's just so much to do. we need longer working days.
and i've been feeling emo these days. i think it's the workload. and the impending move to uk. the apprehension that grips me is suffocating. not ignoring the overwhelming preparation that needs to be done. truth be told. i'm scared. of leaving behind all the friends, all that i've built up in the last 20 years. saw jun ren and a whole bunch of others back at eti and over breakfast, i realise i won't be seeing these people that much in a few weeks time. i'm gonna leave it behind for 3 years and embark on a totally foreign journey. it's scary and i'm feeling the jitters. someone ground me.
and i'm absolutely addicted to this song. first heard it at chew's house. note that it's a song of a "summer love that is shortlived but kind of, you hold on to". i think i'm sinking into its trap now. pull me out, someone.
and the jonas brothers are starting to grow on me.
ok. i haven't had the time to pen down the ongoings of the last few days coz of my busy busy schedule. lets work backwards and start with today.
so this morning was the army half marathon, otherwise known as ahm more affectionately. after running 21.1 km, i think my knees are pretty much busted and my calves are incredibly sore. disregarding my great dislike for tiger balm, i have decided to use the tiger balm muscle rub i found at home to soothe the throbbing pains. as revolting as the smell was, the relief, even though temporary, was god-sent. so now i'm at home lying on my bed as i type this, and half-heartedly watching the count of monte cristo on channel 5. yet in retrospect, i'm amazed by how i got myself through the whole run. i mean it stretched from the marina bay area to fort road and then east coast park. of course there was the turning point we had to run back. so after a morning of excruciating mental and physical exertion, chew and i rewarded ourselves with brunch at carl's junior. portobello mushroom with added mushrooms cannot be faulted on any count. haha.
yesterday morning was spent in camp after handing over DO duty to maureen. after which was a sweep at singpost in paya lebar. spent some time reading my overdue time magazines and entertaining myself with the beauty i call my ipod nano red. haha. had a hearty dose of local food in the form of curry chicken for lunch. and like i was discussing with leslie, there's this very distinctive taste and flavour that makes singapore curry so unique and flavourful. almost nonya-like with the thick taste of coconut milk. it's not the same as indian curry, which is a lil thinner and dilute, something which he said i will get an ample supply of in uk. was done by 4 plus and went back to camp to wash up. had dinner with joyce and we walked about abit, talking and exploring tampines mall and century square, and in the midst of our post dinner adventure, found hidden havens of good delectable food that we promised to try next time. walked her home and then cabbed back to camp.
friday was spent mostly in camp because i was DO. nothing much happened i guess except for commanders training where co sneakily suggested i do a presentation, due to the nature of my course in warwick, on the unstable condition of southern thailand and possibly postulate the spread of terrorist technology and intention southwards to malaysia and eventually to singapore. to which i flatly declined. duh. haha.
thursday was my platoon block leave and it was spent mostly with my parents coz we had to head down to cmpb to sign my study deed, which reaffirms the fact that i am now officially and duty bounded to the saf, and more importantly, to the nation. had every intention to head down to the uk visas centre in robinsons road to finally make an application for my visa, but alas, i had to forget to bring my passport out. haha. so we had dimsum for lunch at yan palace restaurant which was so-so only. finally bought my luggage too which is mother-freaking huge i think my mum will make full use of the space available and stuff it to the brim.
wednesday was a day of sleaze and booze. i won't go into the embarrassing and somewhat awkward details of the sleaze part. just know that it was spent in some LS ktv lounge in the heartlands of sleaze and that it was a farewell party for cpt alex julian and myself. plenty of booze i assure you. plenty of singing i assure you. and plenty of sleaze, contributed mainly by the older regulars and pk. haha. it was the after that was the highlight. mambo mambo mambo! the turn out was excellent. the kiangs, chew, the hors and co, marcus, cedrick, the rare guest daniel and claud! haha. phuture was a total turn off but soughting refuge in mambo was an excellent choice. although only chew marcus and myself drifted there while the rest remained at phuture. some drama on the dance floor which involved cass and claud breaking down. so chew and i had to dance and 'perform' at the entrance of zouk that links to phuture just to cheer the girls up but to a lukewarm response. i swear, we looked like absolute fools. the things we do to cheer our friends up. haha. and to the guy who groped claud, i hope some tranny gropes your manhood and gives it a huge enough tug to lug it off. and there were plans to go back into phuture to hunt the guy down and fight him using a dustbin, especially one from the female washroom that's full of used sanitary pads. haha. the genius that came up with the plan. haha. me! :)
ended up at phuture towards the end and i was seriously bored to tears, bobbing to music that was such a turn off. daniel had his hands full with his ntu girl who was on any count, not very skinny. haha. had supper with them at farasha's and turns out she and her friend were from ntu mass comm. i of course, wasn't very patient with the uncles and i was giving them random names like gopal and raja and kumar, hoping to draw their attention so that they could clear the plates on the table but to no avail. haha. and to think i was nice enough to call his shop by its true name, farasha, and not simply a nameless 'the prata shop opposite zouk'. haha.
finally, i shall conclude this entry by saying that i'm amazed by people who actually read my blog and can actually quote me in a private email sent quite recently. it was basically an email to vilify me for what i've done and the false claims that i make. all i can say was that i found the email highly amusing and entertaining. more than 6 months have passed since that night, and a certain someone still insists on harping about things that have happened. i want no part in this rumour conspiracy and i cannot be bothered with words that bear no meaning any longer. thinking back, it was a farce, the three years together. why i didn't see it earlier i have no answer, but all i can say is that i'm glad it's over and that it didn't have to wait till things were cast in stone (read marriage. i don't even know why i entertained such a foolish thought). i hate it when people pretend they know so much about my life now just by reading my blog or through facebook and friendster. things aren't what they seem to be sometimes. again, i must say, that email made my day. haha. so thank you.
anyway, been busy the whole of yesterday and this morning with conducting chemical defence training for the new guys in the unit. there were quite a few hiccups while jonathan assumed his first role of conducting officer in platoon 3. yes yes, i'm slowly handing over my duties to him, but in the process, i'm still being handed duties coz cpt alex's leaving too. so for a period of time, i'm suppose to stand in for pc while i hand over my platoon 2ic duties to jonathan who will permanently take over on 24th september. haha. and let me reiterate i DO NOT see the point and purpose in doing a declaration after using the stf. seriously. it was a joke lar.
arrived back in camp around 11 in the morning today and then headed out with the team to pasir laba camp for the army open house rehearsal. went to observe what they've been up to the last few days, as well as to provide some moral support coz they've been working very very hard. it was impressive i guess, the whole mobile display. people were impressed with the defender and tcv and some colonel from armour even approached us after the rehearsal to tinker with the defender. there were a few segments that needed tweaking which will be worked on during the upcoming few rehearsals.
anw, i'm going overseas next week for an 'exercise'. can't disclose the location or the date coz it's confidential, but yeap. it's my first one and it's a privilege coz they normally don't send junior officers. yaay. haha. in fact, they're sending those who are leaving the unit (i'm going off to study while cpt alex and julian are posting out) this time around. mwahahaha. so exciting.
mambo tmr. i've counted and there are 4 more weeks of mambo for me. however, out of these 4 weeks, i'm only available on two coz of shafting training and my overseas exercise. haha. so 2 more mambo nights to go!!
ok. i think everyone's already acquainted with the title of this entry. just watched the national day rally and there was this urge to write something about what i've heard.
truth be told, i cannot be bothered about the issue regarding the increase in the cpf interest rate by one percent capped to a limit of $60 000. nor am i affected by the implementation of a 10 percent increase in the workfare bonus. or how increaing the draw down age to 65 will affect my retirement, considering that it's still a few decades away. in fact, for most parts of his speech, i didn't see how many issues will be of a direct consequence to me. yes, i'm already contributing to my cpf account now, but the thing is, it is something that has yet to materiaise in full form before me. i don't see it and it becomes an intangible portion of my income. let it grow in the account and maybe in 20 years time, i'll see its relevance. it's comforting though, knowing that there is a government body looking after my retirement funds, and that there are people working to ensure that i have enough money to see me through the retirement. even housing has been taken care of by the government.
i think we've grown somewhat into a nanny state, where the government has a hand in almost everything. from education, to housing and even retirement. it's evident isn't it? everything has been thought of, and taken care of by the government. the prime minister has to start making plans for people who want to work beyond their retirement age, from encouraging employers to employ older workers, to egging on those who choose to retire early. the question is do singaporeans need the government to have it all mapped out for them before they can look after themselves, and each other? do they need a milk bottle shoved down their throats before they start planning for their futures? essentially, do singaporeans need to be told what to do and be looked after from birth to death? i think not.
well, what moved me in his speech was the future prospects of singapore's development. taking the pungool 21 project with new waterfront living as an example. that's pretty swell looking at the animation. but thinking abut the effort and the number of years it's gonna take, digging a new water way that runs through the estate and building thousands of flats, is pretty overwhelming. yet, it boasts of a life that i can foresee myself living and being drawn into in like a decade or two. setting up a family by the bayfront and returning home from work each day. it's almost comforting to know that there is a future to look forward to back home here. singaporeans huddle in this comfort of knowing that there's always someone, or something to fall back on.
and how apt, that at the end of the whole rally, the national day song that has been the centrepiece of alot of controversy was played on channel 5. do we really need the word "singapore" to be mentioned in a song before we can totally relate to it? agreed, the song's target audience may seem to be the younger, globetrotting youths of the nation, but it's the message embedded in the song that matters. i mean, no matter where you are, home is where the heart is. it's in you, it's an inner acknowledgement of an existence of a place that is close to the heart. you don't need to proclaim to the world that singapore is home. so to all the critics, eat your heart out. for if you need a verbal and physical representation of home, it merely goes to show the lack of an anchor to where home really is. it's intangible and cannot be accounted for. the increasing global identity singaporeans are adopting makes this song all the more poignant without the word singapore in it. it brings to attention the risk of a misshapen identity, and compels the listener to reaffirm his beliefs as to where home is. somewhere in between the countries of the world, there lies a little red dot that is home. for those who have lost sight of it, a slow recollection is spurred on by the song as they struggle to regain the name, that is not mentioned, of home.
3 years in the uk. is it going to make me forget what or where home is? will i lose the capability to call out the name of home? i hope not. the three years will serve as a bridge to the world beyond our shores, to learn and to edify the mind, and come back a somewhat gobal citizen of the world we serve, and live in.
been a pretty uneventful week. ran 16 click yesterday and my knees and calves are dying now. stayed in the whole week and ate alot of changi v food, monday with daniel. tuesday cpt eric bought food back. wednesday with derek. haha. oh luat all three days in a row. i'm so going to grow fat and die. haha. but like i've theorised, the only way to minimise the longing and craving for singapore food when i'm in uk, is to eat as much as i can get now until i'm sick and tired of it, such that i never wanna see another plate of oh luat before me ever.
yesterday was the commander cbre dg change of command parade. pretty cool seeing all the old men who have retired turn up to sorta send him off, and welcome the new guy. it's really a close knit family, the whole brigade. it being relatively new and small, everyone knows each other. they were the pioneers of the brigade as they sought to integrate our already present eod/ied capabilities together with the new cbr chapter. i shan't digress into who plays a bigger role in our current ops as it will be termed too political. yes, there are politics everywhere, and a wrong word would ensnare you in a mesh of untold lashbacks. but it was a heartwarming scene looking at all these retired fellows who still retain so much experience and are still so attached to their parental units, be it 36 or 39. a mini gathering of sorts as they all regaled each other with tales of yore over the army's favourite drink, tiger beer. haha. it's amazing how much alcohol their old and frailing livers can take. i wonder 10 years down the road, when i met up with friends who are nsfs now, how they would have turned out like. will victor and andre have grown white and fat? and denzil and others like calvin quek? haha. time is a scary thing. for instance, 10 years ago, i would never have imagined a career in green would be something that i really wanted. it's a wonder, how time and circumstances can change people and mindsets.
ok. it's a night out with joyce later, and tmr, a night out with the regular partying people. we're expecting full attendance coz it's been a very very long time since we partied together. plus i just got my hsbc supp card! mwahahahaha. and i'm still quite miffed over the no-show of my ipod nano red delivery-man. he was supposed to send it yesterday between 6-9 but he has yet to materialise. just called the company to make some noise. hope they deliver it today. life's good these days. next week's cd fam training and then it's block leave. platoon farewell party for cpt alex, julian and myself the usual platoon 3 way, at some LS ktv lounge much to the dismay of all the nsfs, including myself. haha. but it's mambo together after that for almost half the platoon, while the older group heads to fly. haha. happiness. i'm gonna miss my platoon when i leave.
* book the date. 24th sept. goodbye singapore, hello uk :)
and i'm in love with my new found joy called anime, which takes the form of bleach. a lil late, but it's good so who cares. haha
intended to go swim yesterday morning before heading down to the uk pre-departure fair but i woke up late. haha. need to start swimming again, and to regain my tan, that is almost already not there, before i blossom into a big fat white chicken with a quadruple chin in uk. haha.
so i was late to meet wei liang dingwen and cj at city hall. walked to suntec and at the convention hall while i was talking to the girl from warwick, vidhya sprung up from behind with her very uniquely and typical vid-ish squeal and giggle. haha. oh man, i miss that girl. haven't seen her in ages since she left for southampton last year and now, we're ALL gonna be living under the union jack in a month's time, sipping tea and eating english muffins and scones. haha. spent alot more time talking to her rather than walking around and checking out the booths. didn't even step into the ballroom for the seminar coz all that were being covered had been touched on at the warwick reception at conrad a few weeks back. saw quite a few familiar faces from rj, and even surprisingly, debbie from yc who was going to cambridge. now meeting her was quite embarrassing coz she looked at me and called out my name and i just stared back at her, wondering silently in my head who the hell she was. and even dai jing, the female sms scholar from engineers was there.
then it was lunch/tea at the hong kong cafe at marina square. food's pretty ok and we ended up sitting around and talking alot about investments, and our future careers in the saf(me), scdf(dingwen) and dsta(wei liang). and of course, the endless plans for wei liang to start up an independent private company with his masters in triple e and to sell a wireless OA system to the army, making his company the sole provider of such a service complete with a yearly upgrading and maintenance check. that's bound to roll in moolah for the company coz as i found out from dingwen, sfi is the fifth most profitable company in singapore. haha. damn. and look at the food they're serving us in the cookhouse and the price attached to each meal, no wonder they're raking in the millions.
so yes, sitting there in a lil cosy corner of the hong kong cafe, i couldn't help but see how diverse our paths will be after we leave the army and move on to uni. a career in the army for me. how far am i gonna go in the armed forces? i wanna go to israel and volunteer with the israeli defence force eod for a year or two. it'll probably add alot of crediblility to my portfolio considering the fact that israel's constantly at war with its neighbours and the eod/ied threat is a real threat to the nation. yet the question's when will i get such an opportunity? am i going to dedicate my whole life to the combat of terrorism and to the field of bomb disposal? and there's dingwen, our second scdf overseas scholar in the history of singapore. he's gonna be our future chief of scdf. haha. and wei liang, who's pretty much more or less convinced that after 6 years in dsta he'll be ready to pack his bags and leave the organisation. our paths will take a different turn the moment we step out of uni, and the only thing's that gonna hold us together is the friendship and memories we have of today. it's amazing to see our futures already formulating themselves before us. it's like a trickle of water seeping through the crevices of a dried up river bed as it slowly spreads open into full view at its mouth. a constant growth of untold potential.
our late afternoon soiree ended around 6 and i went to meet chew cass and qian for dinner at raffles city. shopped a bit with chew first coz the girls were late and finally allowed myself to indulge in the great singapore sale at river island. thing was, coz it was almost the end of the sale, there wasn't much left to buy. all the odd sizes were left and the designs weren't very nice. wanted to buy a pair of shoes there but the only one that fitted me had a small tear at the straps. ahh. and it was a pair of white shoes with 3 velcro straps! something i've been looking for in quite a while. ended up just buying a simple tee. dinner was at sushi tei. simple catching up and a short cam whoring moment at the runway-like entrance. haha. wanted to go clubbing but a certain someone forgot to bring her keys out. and another someone insisted on heading for free flow at home club. and a certain someone wanted to go to paulaners but was met with disapproval for the girls. and another someone was insisting that he was in shorts and strongly refuted ideas to go buy jeans for the purpose of clubbing. haha. so we all left for home. too many people were missing from the group this time round. haha.
i do not have any idea what the hell was running through chew's mind when we took this photo. and cass, stop zooming in to my tummy coz it's FLAT and ROCK SOLID! quit being jealous.
and i couldn't decide which of the following 2 was nicer, so i thought what the hell and uploaded both. haha
anw, i just came back from brunch with my parents at crystal jade. ahhh. the har kao is so goddamn nice. haha. super uber fresh prawns.
3rd august, a friday night spelt mahjong at chew's place with james and andre, a night before we flew off to bangkok. considering the fact we played one round and i was the overall winner, i was a pretty happy man. haha.
woke up early on the morning of the fourth and chew's mum drove us to the airport. and before we knew it, we were airborne headed towards the land of a thousand trannies. haha. touched down and had a bit of a problem with the hotel we were supposed to be staying in. turned out that we were placed on a waiting list, so we were moved to its sister hotel, baiyoke boutique. as the fantabulous name might suggest, its layout was simple, minimalistic. almost classy and glitzy. then it was a lil shopping around the hotel and then it was dinner with chew's dad's thai business partner, uncle anawat. so dinner was at a seafood restaurant and the food was totally mindblowing. the prawns were so fresh and the crabs were so damn good and the oysters were like the size of my fist. best thing was, the bill was picked up by anawat as a welcome treat. haha
boarding passes cleared.
tired legs even before shopping starts. they're andre's and chew's by the way. thing was too ticklish for me to handle. haha
all on board!
the thai-airport-which-name-is-too-long-and-cannot-be-pronounced.
acting like fools in the hotel that never materialised.
the final resting place.
getting all dressed up.
the amazing oysters.
following dinner, our hedonistic adventures continued and we headed to a bar/club called holloywood arena, under the guidance of anawat. music was ok and there was a live show. do not mistake this for a tiger show coz it wasn't one. a reputable and clean club it was, and the only sleaze that can be attributed to it were the female singers who chose to appear on stage in siren red g-strings and wore nothing else but glittery golden nipple stickers. yet, the amazing thing was their boobs were so firm they didn't seem to jump about despite all the crazy frolicking about the stage. haha. boobs of steel i tell you. even better, anawat opened two bottles of black label for the four of us and we were just drinking and drinking and drinking. so everyone was pretty much tipsy by the time we left at god-knows-when, coz i was pretty much inebriated myself i lost track of time. haha. now, with all of us so pissed drunk, and anawat too, how were we to go back to the hotel? quite simply done. anawat drove us back in all his drunken stupor. haha. andre had his hand on the handbrake the whole ride back, while james kept on puking out of the window, ONTO the car door. imagine the mess and the embarrassment! haha. and according to chew, i was spouting a hell lot of nonsense out of the window, shouting at passersby and even a policeman. haha. but i assure you i was pretty much sober by the time i reached the hotel coz i rmb helping james back up to the room. tried to douse him with water, and ended up walking about the hotel corridor in my underwear coz i didn't wanna get my jeans wet. haha. oh my god. utterly retarded fools. haha.
the hollywood strip, if you like it.
inside hollywood arena.
toilet humour
the man himself - anawat. and james, innocent and blameless victim of johnnie walker.
the next morning, ALL of us woke up with a goddamn terrible throbbing headache. but for the sake of the endless shopping that awaited us, we persisted and we headed down to chatuchak market after breakfast. james was feeling rotten and pukish the whole trip that every stop we made, he found himself a lil corner to tuck himself away into. so that's where we began our shopping spree and the wonders of bargaining can never be explained. haha. haggling over prices seemed almost daunting at the beginning but bit by bit, you get the hang of it. how to reduce it then slowly increase the price till you're comfortable with parting your money. haha. headed back to the hotel n rested a bit, before heading to shop along the streets of pratunam. massage at pratunam centre was splendid, my bones cracked like it never cracked before, and muscles i never knew existed were stretched. haha. had dinner at a restaurant in centralworld. yes, call us spoilt but we chose to fine dine in a restaurant instead of venturing into the streets and roadside food. following dinner, we headed down to patpong. now don't get the wrong idea coz all we did at patpong was shop and look around. no amount of persuasion by the 'pimps' and 'touts' could entice us into any of the bars to watch the go-go shows. haha. stuck to our firm beliefs and morals if you want. haha.
the labyrinth that is chatuchak.
chatuchak's point of referrence for all lost shoppers
the gang
of crazy drivers and polluted skies - the draw of the streets of bangkok.
boys who don't grow up.
the third day in bangkok was dedicated to the shopping paradise of platinum shopping mall and the all famous mah boon krong. shopping was drop dead fun and our legs were aching by the time we were done. had our very authentic thai lunch/snack at a place called yum saap and the tom yum soup was seriously tears inducing. of course, who could leave out pad thai? haha.
sexiness on wheels.
what you no longer get in singapore.
acting cool.
acting cute.
our daily routine.
most of times, that's how we look after the shopkeepers quote us their initial price. it's usually halved by us, either that or we walk away. haha
mbk centre. orchard road all in one building.
so after all the crazy shopping, we dumped all our goods back at the hotel before heading to khao san. now, this is one place i really liked in the whole trip, a pity that we spent only a night there. the whole street reminded me alot of holland village, and it was so clean and laidback and almost bohemian. the countless tourists residing in the area and the robustness of the atmosphere made walking along its streets so relaxing and memorable. we had dinner in one of the restaurants that had that rustic and expat feel, overcrowded with globetrotters from all over the world. a reminder of the diversity of nations and culture that has sought respite in this little corner of khao san.
khao san
one half of the gang
the other half.
beer made to look good.
headed to bangkok bar for drinks after dinner, heeding the recommendations of our hotel receptionist. music was good but the crowd wasn't the dance-y kind. haha. opened a bottle of jim beam and andre was so sleepy he fell asleep in the bar. we left for lava club on the other side of khao san which was equally crazy. chew insisted on samboca and that got him pissed drunk. so yes, yet another victim of bangkok's night life. now, as we all know, when chew gets dead drunk, nothing can move him. so the only mode of transport from the club to the main road was MY BACK. mind you, i was already very tipsy and groggy from puking and all the alcohol, and that i was dancing with some girl whom they all claim was fat but i'm pretty sure they were all living in denial before i was pulled away to save chew. so we were all making a scene on the streets of khao san and pretty much amusing all the bystanders who laughed and offered us various remedies, including a pill to help chew feel better. haha. so we have one sod (chew) sitting on the ground vomitting blood and pressing his face down hard on the ground, and another maniac high on alcohol dancing on the streets taking photos with random ppl, like the balloon man. haha. no wonder no taxi would take us and we had to resort to riding on a tuk tuk back to the hotel. haha
crazy party animals
the root of all evil, and chew's misery, and our headaches.
vainpots.
that's why it's called lava club
best shot of the night.
do not ask me what i was doing. and for your info, that's popcorn. haha
where's the balloon man?
the next day, we all woke up with the same terrible headache. had to retell chew stories of his drunken antics and he just nodded on in disbelief. i know that feeling dude. haha. last minute shopping with andre and james while chew fell back into bed after breakfast. came back and checked out, headed to the airport and we were back in singapore by 8 that night.
goodbye baiyoke
goodbye thailand. the air asia one. not sq.
all packed up
so thailand was a good reprieve and escape. came back with quite a fair bit of stuff for myself and everyone else. take away the pollution and reckless driving and the money-hungry shopkeepers, bangkok's actually not all that bad. so to chew andre and james, thanks for the memories! another trip? haha. come to europe this december and we'll tour it together! haha. takers?
senang's finally over! everything went pretty much as expected i guess. my second time back on the little island of pulau senang, but the feeling was different. going there as a trainee last year cannot be compared to being there this time round as a safety officer, alongside cpt alex, conducting the whole training there for the two platoons. i guess putting together this whole exercise placed alot of things into perspective. the adminstrative and logistical preparation is a behind-the-scenes thing that a trainee will never understand.
so yes. one of the mk 83s went high order. that's 1000 pounds of tnt explosives going off at full blast mind you. it was totally unexpected and inside the bunker, i was thrown off my feet. co got hit by a flying rock that deflected off his leg and hit samuel toh. you could feel the actual blast wave and see the trees opposite the bunker sway so strongly because of the explosion. it left a crater almost 4 metres wide in diameter! mind blowing in every sense of the word.
and eod flight was kind enough to supply us with rocket motors to blow up, and great balls of fire were flying in every single direction because of the solid fuel propellant contained within. parts of the island caught fire and i had to run about the firing pit with a fire extinguisher in hand fighting fire. i was a fire fighter! haha. honestly, that was my first time using the extinguisher for the real purpose of putting out a fire. haha. we saved the island from yet another forest fire and that marked the end of the last firing.
on a side note, i had the nicest view of the sea and the lights of mainland while i was at the field latrine. i mean, how often do you get to shit and face the sea and see the blinking lights and city skyline of mainland singapore from afar, listening to the waves lapping on the shore, hearing the stifled murmurs of the vegetation about you and the rustling of leaves overhead. don't write ths off as an euphemism, coz that's what senang really did offer. haha.
actually, i wasn't supposed to be back till friday coz it was intended that i be attached to eodcc as an auxiliary instructor and take the new trainees through the whole of senang. however, the person who i was supposed to replace turned up despite his downgraded pes status, which meant that he wasn't combat fit and wasn't allowed out in the field. but what the hell, he appeared on the island with the eodcc trainees so cpt alex and poh wee said that i could go back. damn. i was seriously looking forward to staying on till friday coz it meant that i had another opportunity to talk to the cadets there. looks like i've to find another time i guess. should be going down with some of the platoon guys next wednesday to give lessons to the eodcc trainees. perhaps i'll catch up with them and the cbr cadets then.
anw, my macbook's getting dirty. getting a protective skin isn't an answer coz i bought the macbook for its white pristine beauty. haha. my secret lover. how how. and i need to book my plane ticket to uk soon, before there's a mad rush and tickets are sold out, and i need to get my visa done. most importantly, i need to get my study deed signed asap! so much to prepare for before i really take off.
it's thailand in 3 days time. finally a break. i'm listening to summersong by the decemberists over and over again coz the tune was stuck in my head the whole time on senang. haha.
