i'm back home fresh from field camp and i'm so deadbeat. making friends with mosquitoes at 3am in your tent, night trainings involving walking aimlessly in the forest, seeing your friends pee at the same tree where you have to take cover during afternoon shootings, powder bath until your whole body turns white and you mistake your friend as a grinning gremlin, watching 2 movies in the forest from a makeshift cinema screen, sleeping in the open underneath the stars (tekong has a lotta nice star formations) and bathing in the open with 11 other able bodied boys. the downsides of course are the usual insane number of push-ups or alternate leg thrust you have to do just because 1 smart alec brought Kit Kat to field camp. smart move. i think i'm now 1 level up from charcoal. constant tanning sessions won't really make your complexion fair right...

moving on, 2 weeks ago, watching Serenaide during Baybeats to destress and not to think of Army life is the only right thing to do. it was a mad dash home so that the weekly cruise to tekong was met. oh yeah, the band now has a klasik new keyboardist.

the band in sugary pink colour or as phey terms it, kuniang.

the latest addition on keyboards.

Mr Girl From Katong

yes they were HERE. atleast that what it says.

doing guard duty in civilian clothing.

4 poster hijackers.

erm...below are some snaps from graduation day taken 2 days ago. couldn't believe 3 years of studies ended up with me receiving the diploma with the rambutan look. only that the rambutan is green. the sadness...

with the 2 most valuable people in life. i could only reward them with a cheesy smile.

the comeback kids and the hooray hoorays.

the indon kid turn facial beauty businessman. swanky kool office space he has right beside tong seng coffeeshop at bugis. here seen with 5 underpaid bodyguards.

the graduates with our ustazah jawi. she taught us well.

the greenies. all smiles but later looking glum as we needed to book in later in the day.

with our quirky FYP lecturer. the moment we stepped into his office, he needed our help to shift things out to his new office. operationally ready guys indeed. whatever the case, we thanked him for giving us a nice grade for our project when all the while we erm...worked hard for it ok...

well i guess that wraps it up. being in the army is indeed a busy life. gonna be blogging irregularly these few coming months. do keep checking out this space though. till then, don't take things for granted ok. not even the most simplest thing in life.

slogging away with flowing trinklets of sweat each day, looking forward to saturdays is the only form of escapism. then again, come saturdays, there's nothing much happening around. morale hits a new low. maintaining sanity is the number one priority right now.

on another note, me & my comrades were so close to watching Sin City yesterday. schucks.

Auntie: u all 21 oreadi ah?

The kids: yeah. this year all 21. actually a few more months lah then 21.

Auntie (now already in intense mode): oh cannot cannot! now must be 21 then can watch.

The kids: aiyah auntie, a few more months only leh...

we decided not to debate. watched fantastic 4 instead. no age questions bout that one.

chao keng, sai kang, chong sua, bo pien, fei ma tei poo tuay....pardon the spelling but these are some of the few foreign words i've learned for the past 3 weeks. some other survival hokkien keywords won't be mentioned as i'm sure you've heard it all 1 way or another. showing care & concern through those unmentioned hokkien words will lead to a better rapport between your platoon mates. really.

gonna be missing out on Friday We're In Love gig this coming, of course, friday. baybeats is drawing near & it's not a sure go yet as individual field camp is slated around the next 2 weeks. Copeland is confirmed for baybeats which is klasik and only if the organisers brought in Mew, now that's an excuse to go AWOL. yeah right. 5th August is the date to note. The Bravery are coming to our shores but why why why must it be on a friday...

well, holding a rifle & squeezing the trigger does unleash the rambo in you. now is just the "posing aje" period. no bullets or rounds as they call it in the rifle yet. next week is the real deal. shooting a target from 300m seems fun from yesterday's rifle range demo. grenade throwing is the 1 to watch out. don't kancheong spider and throw the grenade's safety pin instead. later jialat. see, going to sweaty boys island does improve your vocabulary.