Super Ultra Bitching session

*Warning: if you do not appreciate bitching, whining or complaining, the following may not be suitable for you.

There's sooo much to whine about these past few days. It begins on Sunday night, when I was abruptly told that I had to report early to camp on Monday morning. After doing so, I was brought to Pasir Laba Camp (PLC) as part of Operation Stingray (an army intelligence-simulated warfare exercise, which was basically testing tactical deployment of troops by various units, and is entirely computer-based, with amazing resemblence to Risk, but takes 100000x more time to play than a normal Risk game. Now tell me who is more efficient, a Risk player or an army personnel???). There I was asked to do all kinds of STUPID POINTLESS TIMEWASTING things, such as wasting a few bottles of thinner trying to erase stupid marker-details on the map, when redrawing it was so much easier (if you really saw what we were doing, you'd understand the real meaning of ULTIMATE BRAINLESS INEFFICIENCY)

In the late afternoon, I had a fever, and felt horrid, so I went to see the camp MO, who was terribly bad at taking a proper history, implied that I was malingering, and had really gay mannerisms. He sent me off with some paracetamol, and a day's MC. On my way back, I had severe abdominal pain, and had problems even standing. In the MRT, it was so bad I had to squat, and finally, sit on the train floor, gripping my stomach whilst grimacing. AND, no one bothered to even ask me if I was ok, or make some space for me, or even offer me a seat. The train was crowded, and I was in so much pain I tried to look around for help, any help I could get, and all I found was a bunch of people avoiding my gaze, pretending to be occupied with their music players, magazines and staring into blank space.

Singaporeans are pathetic. I have no doubt, if I were in Australia (Ok, not only Australia. Maybe practically anywhere else... well.. except for China, and a few other asian countries I can think of), people there would have the decent care and courtesy to at least ask if they could help. I don't expect help from people, and it's definitely not an obligation to help your fellow human being. But it would be comforting to know that the people around you care, even if you are a total stranger to them.

And as I found out last weekend as well, while caught in a traffic jam on the way to sun tec, that Singaporean drivers (ESP. TAXI DRIVERS) are very VERY obnoxiously rude.

As I exited the train at Bishan, I hurried to the makeshift public toilets just outside the station. There were two toilet entrances, and I hurried into the nearest, headed straight to a cubicle where I vomitted my guts out. I got some relief from that, and as I was about to walk out of the toilet, a lady was entering it. She stared at me in shock!
I instinctively said, "oh, the toilets are unisex, see, the other one also like that.", and pointed in the direction of the other entrance.
Two seconds later, I walked out, and saw the pink 'female' sign on the door I just came out from. Embarrassed, I quickly hurried away.

Tomorrow, I might have to continue another day at PLC, with them predicting that there'll be a stayover because the exercise might continue through the night. wonderful. (IHATESAF)

Honey Bee is getting a new hairstyle.. After that she'll look like beautiful Princess Bee, can't wait to see her!!

Start of my hols...

The past week has been really good. Arriving back in Singapore on a monday evening, I barely had 4 free days before I succumbed to the malicious grasp of the Singapore army, confining me to the prison-environment of Kranji camp.

Spent the first few days walking around Singapore, checking out what used to be my favourite haunts, like Orchard, Toa Payoh, Novena, Sun Tec, and seeing what had changed in the past few months.. not much actually. Singapore is its usual, busling and crowded self, with people-hill-people-sea (ren2 san1 ren2 hai3) all around. I felt a little oppressed (think claustraphobic!) by the massive crowds at time, but after awhile, it was really interesting to watch people go past, and make tiny mental notes of how they look, what they were wearing, what they were doing, and who they were talking to.

Met up with a few of my friends, like YiQian, and JC classmates like Mingwei, Yeowie and Weiliang.. it was great catching up with them. I'm still waiting for the uni exams to finish before I can meet up with more people, can't wait!

Had a wonderful dinner on friday, and a beautifully magical evening at the Esplanade water front. (been waiting for you for so long, whose fault?? ahahaha...) Had a really good time :)

That was a nice finish to a horrible day, spent in camp, doing absolutely nothing, feeling my brain degenerate before (or behind rather) my very eyes, AND hearing that my unit is going to become more active in the coming weeks and that I might have to stay late for the next two weeks. HELLO WHAT THE HELL??? In the event of a war, I might be tempted to hunt down the army commanders. *feeling EXTREMELY murderous* And to make things worse, I'm now posted to S3 branch to help the clerks. I rather resume my old job of repairing tank weapons, then sit around and talk crap with them (because doing nothing is more tiring than doing something, and clerks do NOTHING).
[Oops, *disclaimer: does not apply to all clerks. So if you are one and you're reading this and you're getting infuriated and preparing to bash Keith up, it **probably** does not apply to you.]

On the bright side, I got to meet up with some of my old camp mates, and hear about what's been happening in camp lately. Apparently, Mindef unveiled the new Bionix2 a few months ago, and my unit has a few of them. They don't look too impressive though, despite featuring a larger 30mm chaingun than the previous Bionix.

International Food Fiesta and MAF (6th Oct)

On the friday evening of 6th Oct, Haran and a few other guys organised an International Food Fiesta, which showcased a large variety of foods from several different countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, India, Middle-East, and more. There were delectable delights like chocolate fondue, honey-dew mango dessert and Nasi Lemak (from the Singapore stall :p), indian curry, and many others. There were a number of performances as well, with some of them dressing up in their traditional costumes and Saris, parading around in a mini fashion-show, but sadly I missed most of them *bleah*

That night was Mid Autumn festival, so after the food fiesta event, Hans, Kris, Mark, Terrence and David came over to our house to sit on the grassy field just outside our doorstep to (direct translation) appreciate-moon, eat mooncakes and drink chinese tea. David brought a few dessert mooncakes which he carried over from Singapore, and they were absolutely delicious.

We looked like homeless asians camping on the grass, and that was probably what the ang mohs thought when they drove past us, wondering if they should donate some money to help alleviate our accomodation crisis.


(Yup, that's the full moon, don't mistake it for a UFO.)

Paroma's birthday at Cumberland (20th Oct)

About two weeks before the exams, Paroma had her 21st at Cumberland, a pub near Light Square. There was great food (the kebabs were fantastic), a lively atmosphere, superb music, and wonderful lighting! A few of her college-mates like Haran, Alice, Alvin, gave touching speeches about her and the absurb things she did in the past year.


And of course, I got to meet up with alot of med-friends, had interesting conversations, and managed to get to know some of them better. Had great fun :)

Summer Hols...

Exams are over -finally- ! Will write more about my exam period soon. It was really hectic, with half my study week taken up by moving to a new house. At least now, I am rather settled into the new place, and even bought lights and lamps from iKea to furnish it.

Touched down yesterday at Changi airport, and even though I was protected by the cool comfort of the airport airconditioning, the all-too-familiar dampness of the warm humid air outside was threatening to creep in and swamp me with that moist-mucky feeling, one which I don't particularly miss.

The hot, sultry Singapore weather.

Seeing my parents and my sister again was really really great, although I didn't really buy any presents for them. Went home after that and savoured home-cooked food, something I've been missing for months!

(I miss you really really really alot, do come back soon! Alot alot.)

Can't you see

Can't you see, I need you that much?
Longing for your gentle touch
Seeing your smile, and hearing your laugh
To me, it is more than enough
To keep me warm,
Like huddling in fluffy sheepskin on a cold winter day
To keep me safe,
Just listening to the sweet words you say
In my darkest times, to hold me tight,
and tell me, everything's gonna be alright.