Still Alive
It's been a long while since I've blogged but I just want to let all you wonderful people know...
I'm alive and kicking!
The new year is still starting off with a crawl, and not much as been happenning for me. Since you lot have been a wonderful bunch of faithful readers, I shall let you guys know what i've been up to -- and in the process remove yet another layer of my mask of annonymity. :D
Ok, if you must know, I'm actually serving my national service now. (almost going to ORD loh! less than 3 months!) The past few months saw me in a brand new (but not so new now) unit as a high ranking officer's Personal assistant, although I'm originally supposed to go for a Signal course. The time has come, and so after getting someone to replace me, I've went for my course!
It's another 7 more weeks to the end of the course. Every day seems long now because I'm so eagerly anticipating the exhilarating feeling of getting my pink IC back and embracing the full privileges (and rights! - which you don't get in the army) of being a civilian! I've been awfully blessed to be in this camp; the people have been wonderful, and my old friend Daniel is an officer there.
So, you ask how it's like in camp these days. All's well - the Signals course is a very academic-based course. It's filled with theory and practical lessons, with some live outfield exercises to come. I'm kind of conflicted when it comes to the physical activity (or lack of) because while I am lazy to exercise sometimes, I still think it's important and I love to keep fit. Anyhow, I figure I can probably do all the exercise I want after my course, so it's probably the least of my worries.
One troubling thing down here in my course is my coursemates' lack of initiative, and not to mention their pessimistic disposition. It's like, they see the worse of everything and complain non stop about different kinds of things. Ok, so it doesn't apply to everyone, but certainly to quite a few of them. Not a boost to the morale, that's for sure. Since I'm the highest ranked in my platoon, I'm made the course IC, and it's so annoying how they're all like, "oh, this one ar, ask Raymond lor" or "or Raymond will know so he'll do" and that kind of crap. If I knew everthing, i wouldn't be going for the darn course anymore!
So there're a few people who annoy me, but some of them simultaneously amuse me as well. Let's see:
The Complain King. Aslo known as Mr Complain by the others. This guy is so irritating, I'd pay to listen to William Hung screeching away rather than this guy's complains. Words of discontentment and complaining roll off his tongue too fast, too furious, with the force of a freaking bullet train! Every sentence of his is interspersed with a 'f***" or "c******" and other hokkien vulgarities. In fact, he complains so much, my mind can take a detour and when I finally get back to listening to him, he's still in full ranting mode. Also, his vocabulary seems extremely limited. Limited to basically 3 words. "****". "****" and "*******". How absolutely delightful to listen to. He's a generally ok guy to get along with, but still unbearably annoying. Daniel, if you're reading this, you know him. He was from your department!
Oh, and if you think sexists and racists are prejudiced and suscribe to stereotypes, wait till you see this Complain King. I've never seen prejudice epitomised before this guy came along. Basically, people to this guy can be grouped into 2 categories. Either you're a f***ker, or you're a nice person. As far as I'm concerned, it's hard to be classified under the latter category, because most of the time he calls people by the former. And for reasons as simple as scolding him once. I wonder what the army is turning into now.
I can only say this to The Complain King: if you've nothing positive to say,
Just shut up!
The 3 Slacker Musketeers They should pursue a career in acting right after they ORD because they have amazing skills especially when right in front of the medical officer. I wonder how such blatant "skiving" could be overlooked by the medical officer who instead offer them Excuses from marching, from heavy loads, from physical activity etc. The most ridiculous incident was this guy reporting sick for having 'asthma and chest pain' but was smoking the very exact day after he came back from the medical officer!
The Einstein Buddies They seem to have an insatiable hunger for knowledge. During lessons, they're wide awake taking down notes when most of our heads are already like little rafts - rocking sideways and back and forth. Yes, it's hard to stay awake during lessons! But these guys go on full Energizer Bunny mode and conscientiously copy down notes during all the lessons. Actually I prefer to think of them as 'gancheong spiders', but still I say Kudos for them for putting in effort and striving hard to do well.
Yeah, you meet really interesting people while in the army. All sorts of different people, from different walks of life. Sometimes you like them, sometimes they drive you mad, but we still must love them and tolerate them right? Because it makes life in camp so much easier - just getting by with them, and not letting anger or any hatred consume you. I guess Jesus must have really know what He meant when He said to love your neighbour as yourself. Actually all my coursemates have been great to me, and I think I've been great to them as well. But still I don't think it'll be easy to survive another 7 weeks being in the same bunk as Complain King. He's gonna drive me nuts! Oh Lord, help me!
I'm alive and kicking!
The new year is still starting off with a crawl, and not much as been happenning for me. Since you lot have been a wonderful bunch of faithful readers, I shall let you guys know what i've been up to -- and in the process remove yet another layer of my mask of annonymity. :D
Ok, if you must know, I'm actually serving my national service now. (almost going to ORD loh! less than 3 months!) The past few months saw me in a brand new (but not so new now) unit as a high ranking officer's Personal assistant, although I'm originally supposed to go for a Signal course. The time has come, and so after getting someone to replace me, I've went for my course!
It's another 7 more weeks to the end of the course. Every day seems long now because I'm so eagerly anticipating the exhilarating feeling of getting my pink IC back and embracing the full privileges (and rights! - which you don't get in the army) of being a civilian! I've been awfully blessed to be in this camp; the people have been wonderful, and my old friend Daniel is an officer there.
So, you ask how it's like in camp these days. All's well - the Signals course is a very academic-based course. It's filled with theory and practical lessons, with some live outfield exercises to come. I'm kind of conflicted when it comes to the physical activity (or lack of) because while I am lazy to exercise sometimes, I still think it's important and I love to keep fit. Anyhow, I figure I can probably do all the exercise I want after my course, so it's probably the least of my worries.
One troubling thing down here in my course is my coursemates' lack of initiative, and not to mention their pessimistic disposition. It's like, they see the worse of everything and complain non stop about different kinds of things. Ok, so it doesn't apply to everyone, but certainly to quite a few of them. Not a boost to the morale, that's for sure. Since I'm the highest ranked in my platoon, I'm made the course IC, and it's so annoying how they're all like, "oh, this one ar, ask Raymond lor" or "or Raymond will know so he'll do" and that kind of crap. If I knew everthing, i wouldn't be going for the darn course anymore!
So there're a few people who annoy me, but some of them simultaneously amuse me as well. Let's see:
The Complain King. Aslo known as Mr Complain by the others. This guy is so irritating, I'd pay to listen to William Hung screeching away rather than this guy's complains. Words of discontentment and complaining roll off his tongue too fast, too furious, with the force of a freaking bullet train! Every sentence of his is interspersed with a 'f***" or "c******" and other hokkien vulgarities. In fact, he complains so much, my mind can take a detour and when I finally get back to listening to him, he's still in full ranting mode. Also, his vocabulary seems extremely limited. Limited to basically 3 words. "****". "****" and "*******". How absolutely delightful to listen to. He's a generally ok guy to get along with, but still unbearably annoying. Daniel, if you're reading this, you know him. He was from your department!
Oh, and if you think sexists and racists are prejudiced and suscribe to stereotypes, wait till you see this Complain King. I've never seen prejudice epitomised before this guy came along. Basically, people to this guy can be grouped into 2 categories. Either you're a f***ker, or you're a nice person. As far as I'm concerned, it's hard to be classified under the latter category, because most of the time he calls people by the former. And for reasons as simple as scolding him once. I wonder what the army is turning into now.
I can only say this to The Complain King: if you've nothing positive to say,
Just shut up!
The 3 Slacker Musketeers They should pursue a career in acting right after they ORD because they have amazing skills especially when right in front of the medical officer. I wonder how such blatant "skiving" could be overlooked by the medical officer who instead offer them Excuses from marching, from heavy loads, from physical activity etc. The most ridiculous incident was this guy reporting sick for having 'asthma and chest pain' but was smoking the very exact day after he came back from the medical officer!
The Einstein Buddies They seem to have an insatiable hunger for knowledge. During lessons, they're wide awake taking down notes when most of our heads are already like little rafts - rocking sideways and back and forth. Yes, it's hard to stay awake during lessons! But these guys go on full Energizer Bunny mode and conscientiously copy down notes during all the lessons. Actually I prefer to think of them as 'gancheong spiders', but still I say Kudos for them for putting in effort and striving hard to do well.
Yeah, you meet really interesting people while in the army. All sorts of different people, from different walks of life. Sometimes you like them, sometimes they drive you mad, but we still must love them and tolerate them right? Because it makes life in camp so much easier - just getting by with them, and not letting anger or any hatred consume you. I guess Jesus must have really know what He meant when He said to love your neighbour as yourself. Actually all my coursemates have been great to me, and I think I've been great to them as well. But still I don't think it'll be easy to survive another 7 weeks being in the same bunk as Complain King. He's gonna drive me nuts! Oh Lord, help me!
hey ray,
well, i agree it might be a bit hard tolerating some people, but try not to look at it as "tolerating" - maybe if you try reaching out to them, you may find that they need you as a friend :)
have a good 7 more weeks in camp!! don't sweat it. hopin to see ya back soon!!
~dan
Posted by
Anonymous |
12:00 AM
The fact is most people think NS is a bloody waste of time...but there are also people who thoroughly enjoy their NS as a unique experience to treasure for life:-D..it's a matter of choice, i guess.
Posted by
mrdes |
12:20 AM
I used NS as a way to build up my hatred and rage. It'll come in useful someday.
Posted by
R2D2 |
2:27 AM
hey daniel, thanks for the advice. Will keep it in mind. 6 more weeks left.
mrdes: to me, I think a lot of time spent inside is wasted, but I have learnt a lot of stuff from it, really.
sb: i used NS as a time to let it go. No point holding on to all of it.
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:50 PM
best regards, nice info
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Posted by
Anonymous |
10:33 PM