Back from Reservist

I'm back. Felt like ages since I last blogged. Wanted to the last few nights, but was simply exhausted. Need more sleep, I guess. 5 hours on average every night is scarcely enough. Thank God for His strength to last me through the days when at work.

Kept a journal of sorts when I was away. Only managed to gather my thoughts and finish it over the last weekend or so. Basically, a lot of time was spent waiting for things to happen. Slept a lot when outfield, though often in uncomfortable positions. Journal entries are in italics.

10/07/07
Guess it's time to start on the annual ICT journal. Been a while since I wrote a daily collection of events (other than in my blog), so I better start now before I lose my memory of the days spent in Tanjong Gul.

Day one
Almost couldn't wake up in the morning. A 4.30am wake up call is almost too much, bu didn't really have a choice. Book-in timing was supposed to be 7am, so I arranged to meet Gary at 5.30 at Hougang mrt. Dad gave me a ride down, and it's very early for him as well, as he normally only leaves for work at 6am. Ride down to Boon Lay was uneventful, except it's packed full. Found that Benny was on the same train, so I headed over to his carriage to look for him while Gary stayed behind; there's no way we can navigate through the crowd with all our stuff.

Met Yuhui, Keith, and Wan Yen at the station, then went to look for cabs. Took a while before we got one to bring us to camp; many just passed us by. So in went Gary, Yuhui and I. Took a while to get to camp as well, since it's somewhere in Tuas, near the naval base. Heard it's gonna be at Jurong camp next year though, a small blessing as it's more convenient.

In-processing was a drag. Had to go for a haircut as apparently the hair at the back of my head didn't meet the requirement. Shelled out 5 bucks on top of the 25 I spent a few weeks back to cut my hair. Ah well. Nothing else I can say about the matter. Had to kiwi my boots also before I was finally allowed to process my check-in into camp. Drew my rifle and law tube and headed up to the bunk.

Nothing much else in the day, except the handing of the commanding officer ceremony, and his subsequent speech. Went through a refresher course for my law tube before resting for the rest of the day.

Had to get some stuff from emart though; needed a pair of shorts, as all I had were running shorts which are not really convenient to sleep in. A new notebook and some white socks make up the rest of the shopping list. Only managed to get ahold of the latter; the rest forgot to get or were sold out. Guess I'll have to drop by another day.

Day 2
Woke up at 5.30am for breakfast and IPPT. But felt sick; cold was still lingering from last week, and a cough developed overnight. Not to mention I felt weak all over. Saw the doc who gave me 2 days of light duties and some medication. No cough mixture though, which I thought strange. Headed back & was told to prepare for the law test and grenade throwing test after lunch. Didn't really do much for the law test, just go through the drills from yesterday. Sat out the grenade throwing test, which took up the rest of the afternoon. After dinner, was told we have night's off, which is kinda surprising. Not much time off though, around 4 hours after my shower. Gary and I met a guy outside camp who booked a cab, so we offered to share with him to Jurong Point.

Comics connection was the first place we went to when we got there. Gary browsed around and I chanced upon the latest volume of "Suzuka", so I bought it. Bit of mistake though; very expensive at Comics Connection. About $8++! Remind me to boycott CC from now on and stick to Tenchi where it's cheaper. Bought some subway for friends and ourselves and decided to head back to camp, as there's nothing much to browse at JP. Didn't really do much else for the rest of the evening, just prepare my stuff for outfield the next day. A 4.30 wakeup timing was given, so we all headed early to bed.

Day 3 and 4
Outfield was nothing much; a lot of time was spent waiting for things to take place, as usual. Sat out the platoon battle course, as I'm still on medical status, but went along for the company mission exercise. Which included harbouring in the forest for like 9 hours doing nothing, again, till like 3.30am when we started moving towards our objective for our dawn attack. And getting lost along the way as usual, due to overlooked and hard to find recee markings. Sigh, always bound to happen. So far, have not encountered a time when I had a march that had a straightforward route to the objective without getting lost.

To cut a long story short, got to the objective and attacked and waited for things to start moving again. Somehow, I managed to not fire any blanks at all, thank God as it means virtually no cleaning of the inside when we get back to camp.

Got to see the beautiful surrounding hillside once my section cleared the area we were assigned. Nice scenary with morning mist and fog in a valley of sorts. Reminds me of the scene in Taiwan where clouds were moving along in a valley. Time now was like 7+ in the morning, and yet it felt like 10+. Maybe cos we all woke up so early. Went to dig my "coffin" (shell scrape) afterwards; a place for my field pack and sand bags and needs to be long enough for me to prone insie. Which I did when the trainer came around to inspect our work. Seems like mine was a tad shorter than expected, as I just estimated my body length when digging. Don't really like to dig; one of the aspects of my vocation I really dislike. But thank God the weather's not too bad, though it's rather hot and humid, out here in the forest. Not to mention my section's deployed on a steep slope, so moving around is a bit tricky. Almost twisted my ankle on a couple of occasions while trying to get around.

Route march came next. And mercifully, the distance was cut short, maybe cos of exhaustion felt by everyone and the late hour. Not easy to get 500+ people to move a long distance. Will need a lot of time and coordination. Headed back to camp where I had a late dinner and did some cleaning of my rifle and wash up (finally!). Powder bathing in the forest can only keep me clean somewhat. Sweat and powder don't really mix well.

Day 5
Finally it's outpro day. Woke up at about 7 for breakfast, then did some packing and attend a closing speech by the CO and attend to some other misc issues. Managed to get my shorts form emart, thank God. Had borrowed a pair from Benjamin for the last few days to wear.

Dialling for a cab at 4+ is a drag. Phone lines were busy and we were put on hold. My outpro counter also had some problems with their system, so had to wait quite a bit while other counters seem to proceed smoothly. Really testing my patience; I just wanna go home... Finally managed to get one after half an hour and shared with some friends to head northeast. Back home, unpacked, showered and went out to Ang Mo Kio. Needed a new supply of contact lenses, and wanted to catch a movie. Decided on Harry Potter over Transformers, which I hope to catch soon, as it fitted my timing better. New cinema at Ang Mo Kio hub weren't too bad. Toilets on the other hand really put me off. For a relatively new place, they are always wet and dirty and have an unpleasant odour. Sigh. Headache came back again, which almost caused me to puke out my dinner while eating at Sumo House. Bottled water from NTUC + emergency supply of panadol from my bag cured my headache somewhat. Think I'll have to avoid staying out in the sun for now; it's like the 2nd or 3rd headache so far in 2 weeks. Keep me in prayer, my dear reader. Will need lots of it. Gout's twitching somewhat as well, guess it's time to re-start on my medication soon.


I know it's kinda long and all, this post. Been a while since I posted anything this long. Nothing much happened after friday. Xinyi's com gave some hiccups again, so I spent saturday afternoon clearing dust from her cpu's heat sink. Met her and Hui Qin and Colin on wednesday as well to celebrate Hui Qin's birthday. Went to Coffee Club at Taka for dinner and headed down to the fountain at the plaza to cut the cake I bought. Just a quiet evening. Xinyi was pretty tired from all her work, so we didn't hang around till late; left for the mrt after kino closed. But pretty amazing that both girls can still browse through shops on the way to the trains, despite exhaustion. Could only stand around and help them with their stuff while they looked at clothes. Colin left a bit earlier as he was feeling tired.

Easing back to work this past week. Think I'm getting the hang of it already. Just hope to do well at work and save up for my Taylor. Went down to Sinamex to try their guitars and only found the GS8, and not the GS6 which I'm targetting. Very sweet tone though, but want to try the stika spruce and maple combination to see and hear the difference. One piece will only arrive in the 3rd week of August, so I guess I'll have to wait. Praying for more blessings so that I can afford this baby. And in turn, bless others with better worship music (at least tonally).

Can't believe time just flew by when typing this out. Almost 2am now, and I need to wake up at 6.30. Good night, dear reader. Sleep tight.

"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:6-8