daily gripe

i survived my first ICT at 2CSH! and i am off to bangkok tonight!!

i never thought that these two weeks would pass by, in this manner. a day by day stretch in a regular march. am sure that time must have passed by in a flash for some; am thinking of my colleagues here. but time is relative, and upon donning the uniform and being based in a camp, time just becomes this thing that passes but doesn't seem to get lesser.

like i mentioned previously, this ICT(in-camp training) has been a solid test of my patience for time wasting and my tolerance for those who seem stuck in their way of life. had this been a private venture, we would have finished EVERYTHING in a week. packed schedules, packed deadlines, packed refresher courses, packed mission.

but as i walked out of camp today after out-processing i.e. regaining my life as a civilian. i think that maybe, just maybe, this period being slow gave me the opportunity to get to know my fellow mates better, from the direction of who they are, and what they do. it gave me time to think more in depth about what i wanted to do for myself as well, being exposed to so many different careers and different mentalities. there was lots of laughter as well i suppose, given that we had one over-riding mission daily, even more important than our 'given' objective. we all wanted to book out or get this 2 weeks over and done with.

the characters in the unit are a pretty decent and fun bunch. everyone seems to have assumed this 'air of resignation' towards the time here...and we moved on from lamenting to getting the job done. despite all the blardy long breaks in between. gripes of wasting tax-payers' money aside, the unit ' animal' really is difficult to move methodically. but it doesn't mean that it should still be this much of a drag.

think i am lucky to end up in 2CSH. doubt i will defer if given a chance. better the devil you know, than the abyss beyond.

and...i am off to bangkok tonight. was worried initially that i might still need to return to camp tomorrow morning but that didn't materialise and well, i'm off! hope that this trip works well as well, to give me a short break before returning to the usual chaos and for my baby to get some well-needed perspective into the months coming ahead.

going to do some shopping for stuff like bags and tee-shirts. learnt my lesson the other time round and won't go for the pants anymore. kinda thinking about tailoring some shirts still though. might be cheaper and i ain't sure when i will make a trip back to bangkok again in the near future.

and yes dear...i am spontaneous sometimes.

posted by inspirethereal @ 3:32 PM 0 straight, not straightened

booking in on a monday morning beats the dread of doing so on sunday night

it actually feels strange preparing for a field camp again. having to pack all the items in, checking on the straps and making sure that there's "extra" rations like fruit bars and sweets. kinda surreal. think the hardest thing later would be to force myself to sleep just so that i will get enuff rest to last the next 2 nights.

according to the seniors, it will be a 'simulation' i.e. no full sleep until wednesday night, see 'waves' of 'casualities' appear at the stations. then there will be examiners grading us as a unit and individuals on how we perform under such circumstances.

*sigh* so 18 year old if you ask me.

well at least booking in on monday morning feels better than booking in on sunday night.

posted by inspirethereal @ 8:42 PM 1 straight, not straightened

3 days, 3 phone calls, 4 smses and counting...

let me be really honest and admit that my reservist unit is a ...somewhat good one. even though it is located in the ulu-fied part of yio chu kang, at nee soon and travelling there every morning for the past 3 days is a damn chore. lucky enough for me, am serving together with an old mate from my national service days and he lives somewhat near me so i get a lift toand back from camp every day.

am greatful for small deeds.

the seniors are really nice guys and they are really willing to incalcate a noob, like myself, into the general scheme of things since all we really really (really) want to do is go home earlier than the "general" dismissal time of 1720 hours. hope that i can continue to book out every day sia...

as usual there will always be the 'bad encik'. this time round, it's a regular warrant officer functioning in the 'trainer' capacity. he actually harbours secret thoughts of being the disciplinarian CSM, i think. sad to note, he has to deal with over 50 reservist who really cannot be bothered about what he thinks or says. looking at this in perspective, the maximum discplinary fine for the first offence is $50. *shrugs* that really ain't a lot huh?

otherwise, there's a field camp next week with some scenarios thrown in. that should be something to see. the seniors aren't even worried about it, so taking the cue from them, why should i be as well? *grin*

am decidely ambivalent about having to return to work in 13 days time.3 days, 3 phone calls, 4 smses and counting...

posted by inspirethereal @ 5:44 PM 0 straight, not straightened

the displeasure of losing time

i found out that blogger lets me post pictures when i use IE to browse blogspot. otherwise on Avant, it doesn't matter how many times i beg, pray and threaten, the pictures will "load'" but not display. such a wonderful idiosyncrasy of technology/software programming.

anyways, am heading in for my first-evet ICT tomorrow at Nee Soon camp, located in the, i swear, most ulu-fied part of the island. transit road. even in naming the road, the powers that be knew it would probably move. it being the camp. the move being 20 years too late and still counting.

as you can probably tell, i am neither excited nor enthusiastic about having to once again "book in" to a camp, or to have to listen to someone that i do not know order me around, or even to have to rush 'urgently" to make sure i do not have my weekends "burnt". my time in the army serving national service was barely tolerated because of the uncontrollable situation, at that time, of having been born a Singaporean citizen. having wasted 2.5 years of my life, i can now vote for my government as well as choose whether i want to remain a Singaporean. such joy.

of cos, the government moved me from a voting constituency to a "walk-over" one this time around, but they can't keep doing that. i will have my vote in 2011. if not i will move to potong pasir.

wherefore stems my pleasant disregard for the time spent in national service? let me say it once more, the role of serving in a military agency for the purposes of national defence isn't a wrong one. the distinction and my unhappiness lies in the fact that the Singaporean male isn't probably compensated for sacrificing the best foundation years of their lives.

a higher initial pay...in the civil service? the "faster" promotions...again in the public sector? the ideal that the male will possibly triumph despite the disadvantages is such a crock of bull.

the above-benefits are to be weighed against the fact that the singaporean male will start his career at least 3 years after his female counterpart(if he is a graduate), and at least 5 years after his American/European males finish their final year in college. by the way, the above benefits to do carry as much weight in the private sector.

"you served in the army when you were 18? tough luck" said the Australian senior manager.

are we possibly progating a colonial mentality when we see young American managers leading a pack of older Singaporean male executives? or when an European female senior executive chalks up 10 years of experienece in her field at 29 when some singaporean males have just been promoted from "worm" status in their organisations at 27? what a great chasm to leap across...

and don't get me started on Singaporean males vs. females...one recurring symbolic example i have is a 24 year old becoming marketing manager of an int'l brand when her male counterpart starts his career in a job in the same industry at 23. are males really to blame when they have not reached their peak when they reach 28?

again, a caveat. i am not dissing the system to ask for change. if time must be spent serving the nation, then let it be. if the only way for this system to work is for a nation to let their young serve during the foundation years so be it. but this gripe remains debatable.

can national service be re-adjusted, re-looked at to help the youth aim higher, and faster in an increasingly international private sector? can the Singaporean male serve differently? or the government increase minimum wage policies to suitably compensate the transaction? something tells me that when i finally ROD, these issues will still be out there being spoken about by some other 26 year old male.

posted by inspirethereal @ 9:45 PM 0 straight, not straightened

happy singapore day!

happy singapore day!

read about it here.

wasn't at the stadium, spent it at a bbq at baby's place. managed to catch some part of the fireworks altho i felt that this year, it wasn't that impressive compared to last. there should have been more!! the whole finale lasted less than 10mins. *sad*

here are a couple of my favourites...


they say it is the last year it will be at the nat'l stadium before they tear it down, spend shitloads on a temporary one and then re-launch a new nat'l stadium in the next couple of years. am sure that it will take quite a number of peanuts to get it set up. the temp one, not the perm one.

makes me feel "so much" better about being a tax-paying singaporean. am sure i will remember it when i cast my votes in the 2011 general elections.

posted by inspirethereal @ 10:15 PM 0 straight, not straightened

nseries studio@ scotts

photos of the nokia nseries experience studio at scotts shopping centre...

posted by inspirethereal @ 10:22 PM 0 straight, not straightened

the day i hiccup-ed for 5 hours straight...

i couldn't believe it when the hiccups first started. gulped down a sip of elaine's coffee, didn't work. frustrated me no end that i went to BK next door to get a LARGE barley. threw half of that back down the throat. didn't work...

elaine, gary and myself were out today at orchard - yeah we actually decided to do a foray into the heart of Young town cos' elaine wanted to show us photos of her trip from europe a couple of weeks back. lucky lass did geneva, turin, nice, barcelona and one more place...pictures are amazingly well-taken. of cos in part due to the the skill of the photographer (do i get my treat?) and to her trusty canon ixus. that's why i also want to buy one...

anyways, we met, sat down, started to warm up in conversation and the hiccups happened. *hic* and i cleared my throat. *hic* again and i swallowed saliva real fast in a bid to crush the oncoming third *hic*. failed in that attempt. coffee came in, barley went down. the hiccup was resolutely holding its fort.

"fine." my mind went. "let's wait it out and see how long the bugger lasts." my mind reasoned.

60 mins and 45 *hics* later...we decided that it was time to head off to isetan, taka to run through some errands. dinner was decided upon to be at spageddies, paragon.

90 mins, 77 *hics*, after shopping at taka for a polo tee for her dad and one long queue at spageddies, we sit down at our table. hiccups gone. relief streaming from my ears as we order dinner and attempt to go through 10 per cent of the 1000+ photos elaine took.

140 mins later, dinner is over, just as we were deciding on dessert, *hics*, it starts again!! "drown it with water," the brain went! *glug glug glug* and enough water to ruin thought of dessert down the gullet, *hics* it continues!

somewhere in my mind, gladiator music is playing and commentary is going ' annnnnddd they are oooffff!!!!"

"maybe you should hold your breath,' says elaine. "you should try breathing in and out of a plastic bag." says gary as he gestures to elaine for a plastic bag. "i only have the bag with my dirty gym clothes inside..."she states. i look at her in disbelief and eyes wildly darting a negative response from my brain. "yeah that would definitely cure the hiccups!" gary exclaims.

i would have hit him then if i weren't *hic*-cuping.

so we settle the bill and drift out of spageddies and upwards to coffee club for dessert and the other 75 per cent of photos. the *hics* stop! it felt like such a good thing. my diaphragm was giddy with joy. we stop off at coffee club, polish off dessert and coffee, get chased out at closing time.

and at a freakin' blardy asshole of a moment, the hiccups begin again!! *wtf!!* so i reasoned, hiccups are caused by an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm by so if i force a burp everytime i hiccup, that should stop it. well, 30 mins, one train ride back to eunos and a walk home, it didn't stop. but stepping into home seemed to do the trick. and as i type this out, the hiccups are gone so good riddance.

yes diaphragm, we shall get some good rest tonight.

*add on, it's 12.33am and the *hics* are back again. full force. *sigh* i admit defeat.

***
check out the new nokia nseries experience studio at scotts shopping centre; open until the end of 2006.

TODAY weekend reported about it here.

i still cannot seem to post any pictures onto blogger even though i emailed them and they replied to say i could. had this collage of shots taken at the nseries studio but looks like it will have to wait. those who want to see the shots can leave their emails in the comments section and i will respond accordingly...

posted by inspirethereal @ 11:30 PM 1 straight, not straightened