(Photo from Mad Shafik's FB)

15122014

Only recently, SAF has decided to allow a new tab on the sleeve, the Recon Tab.
3 tabs only allowed in this army, firstly Ranger, Guards and finally this, the elusive Recon.

So for the longest time, Recces have always been hidden amongst the Infantry soldiers.
Only thing thats distinguishes them is only when they don the jungle hat, only then the Recce tab sewn on it allows a Recce to be differentiated.
And that sucks.

Recces, best of the battalion, hardly has much recognition.
Now this, finally, is a whole new identify, and pride has finally been restored to us.
Coming from me, I've been wanting this for quite sometime too.
If only it has came earlier, I would have love it so much to see it on my sleeve.
It's just a new fresh look, a tab means something, and not everyone can achieve one.
I had gone through pain for my Combat Skills Badge (CSB), and even more for my SAW Marksman, and a little to retain my IPPT Gold.
And that Recon tab is the last thing I've ever wanted.

But ah well, at least I can get it sewn on to my 2x smartest 4 if that helps.
And for the next 10 cycles, it'll be there.
Although yes I've ORD-ed, there's a little bit inside of me misses the army, the comrades and the good times.

Because trying isn't worth it if it isn't fast enough.

Paper in 9hrs 30mins and I'm not confident.
And my mind's a blank.
My feet's cold.
And my heart's shallow.

How? I don't know, I'll figure it out.

160914

This day was particularly hard for me.
I'm leaving HK back to Singapore. It was a  short but extremely hard trip to make.
Terribly stricken and shaking. It wasn't easy.

Been listening to 'Dolphin Park  - The Theme For Moonglow'.
Because it's soothing as heaven.
Typhoon has struck yesterday but it''s all good now.
And I hope le girlfriend is okay. It wasn't easy to be honest.

Here's a quote I loved.

"You will be contacted by somebody who is stuck in the near future. 
 The code word will be togetherness. 
 Togetherness!! I i got it! 
 Happy landing! 
 Same to you. Togetherness!"

I dunno but it struck me very hard.
Togetherness. Haven't heard that in awhile.
I miss you darling.

0232, 290814

Its the day, almost 2 years of hardship has finally brought me to this day.
The day of I sat on the roof not knowing what's going on.
Just a quarter more of the day before I call myself a citizen of Singapore again,
not a military personnel.

It's hard, watching people leave day after day, hour after hour.
A box worth 13 resting in my right pocket, rejected and wrongly placed.
The tool of hyperconnectivity losing it's true purpose.
What's more to ask for?

Accused.

Always, falsely, innocence, hatred, frustration, sentinel, lonesome, solitary.
On this day I'm still atop here on ORV looking down on mine.
Why you ask, out of love.
Out of kindness, all I ask for is a smile, you left me with rage and frustration.

I'll always be here, whether you want to vent frustration or anger, yes I'm here.
You might not see me, fine.
I'm on the lookout, I watch, but remained unwatched.

Late night post before flying off again, to another foreign land which I'm actually excited about :p

So, I've been back in Singapore for like 2 months already but I haven't blogged about it; partly because I've been having way too much fun enjoying myself and doing nothing (true story).

And I'm actually flying off to Hawaii (oh yes sweet mother Hawaii) in 5 hours time!

It's somewhere I actually wanted to go for along time and for some reason, of all reasons, I'm going there with my brothers from NS.

Firstly, something I'm not looking forward to, the long journey.

Ass' gonna bloom flowers (Chinese saying, probably from Confucius), as the whole journey;s gonna take probably 19 hours? And that's excluding the transiting of flights and waiting at Narita, Japan.

Next,  the live firing that we're doing there. Well it's dangerous for sure. But I'm pretty sure for me, opening the door for my friends to run in and 'kill' targets shouldn't be that dangerous for me. Well c'mon, opening doors? Pfft :x

And err.. probably the time difference is something that's pretty drastic in my humblest of all opinion.

18 hours of time difference, behind Singapore's (GMT+8), is like wow. Really now. 18 hours lol.

Not helping that it's really hard to count and communicate back with my love back in Singapore.

But, with a negative, there's always a postive.

I've been wanting to visit America for the longest possible time. And the first place I get to visit? Hawaii.. lol

Next, probably the culture in Hawaii..

It's probably something very different from mainland America but I guess it counts?

And why am I typing probably so many times in this post.. weird.

Okay, back to topic.

Second one would be the lifestyle? 

Followed by the food portions there.. I really wanna see how much food do they actually serve there. yea interesting lol.

Hmm.. then also to look at the US Soldiers to see what's rocking there too~

The whole exercise, according to my calculations, aren't exactly that crazy.

Just the schedule seems abit ~.~?

Not sure if it's just to show "oh this is how realistic the training is supposed to be!"

Or just to scared the sh*t out of us and prepare us for thew worse. Not so sure myself but hopefully it isn't that crazy like how I make it out to be.

-

Well. Taiwan was fun, if I haven't mentioned. Highly doubt I had anyway.

Exercise wise wasn't.. Quite dumb. Well..

And I actually 'blogged' about it on my phone every single day for like 29 days or so.

Short posts, probably like a paragraph or two.

Probably shouldn't upload it here unless someone's interested in seeing it.

Like c'mon raise your hands. Higher~ nah I don't think anyone's there what is this sorcery? Really.

So yea, I'm leaving in 5 hours. 120714 0600 to 120614 0900 hours of flight. Wow 3 hours? You wish :p

I'll be there till like 28 July '14. And flying back to Singapore on that very date.

Gonna lose like 2 days and I ain't happy about that.
And the worse part is that we still have to transit at Narita again for a few hours. Hmph not happy about that too.

But yea. 30 July '14 is what I'm looking forward to.

Because it's finally a month away from ORD!

Hell yea~ and I got my CSB and SAW Marksman badge too.

You wouldn't believe how happy I was when I saw my 37/54 shots man.

So fr*cking sexcited whoops that too much information for a day!

Well, I'll try to blog there in Honululuz.

Meanwhile, I shall continue praying that what they said were true ; air-conditioned bunks and wifi as well? 

Me prays that there's like warm showers in the morning lol!

And probably a power plug beside me. That'll be nice.

So yea. take care everyone! Hope everyone's good~

I'm good. Just taking a sh*t while blogging- woh TMI good day :)

With a heavy heart, I'm leaving for Taiwan for 31 days for my final exercise.
It's amazing how something like that can have so much impact on me, though it's not something which I'm particularly afraid of, but there's just something that doesn't quite calm me down.

Yes, BMT confinement was just a mere 11 days thankfully, because of Deepavali, and it's local Singapore; everything's here.
Home's here, your 'friends', are here.
What's there to be afraid of frankly?

I've been to Thailand, with not much of a heavy heart.
Maybe because of the fact that I won't have much of any communication with my friends and family when I'm up north at Taiwan, though stationed at the southern?
Maybe it's because of the tough terrain and environment I'm gonna face there?
Maybe it's the fact that I'm not prepared?
I really don't know, but my friends have definitely persuaded me that Taiwan is gonna be fine.
Yes, I can safely say I do know that it's true, what can possibly go wrong?

Throughout my whole life (well 22 years that is), since I have survived this long, there's nothing I can't do, at least I will survive everything.
I've been through the worse from BMT; Mono intake's bullsh*t and Tekong life's good, I've been through that and confidently say I have survived that ordeal.
I have survived AIT with a (insert any tough word here) Platoon Sergeant, hey I'm still here.
I survived scary and nice instructors back when I was taking my Military Class 2B license.
I know myself, I'm a klutz, I mess up every single thing easily, but I managed to clear it with a longing of doing it again.
I survived ISPC (Infantry Scout Platoon Course), one course you don't wanna repeat, and hello guys I'm here to type a post.

What's there I can't survive for now? I don't know, I might know in future, but whatever it is, I'm coming back from Taiwan strong, and it's the final one.
I feel that, and I know that I'm gonna miss it.
It's always the case, for some reason, I miss everything.
Because when I look back, I know that I survived something which I thought I never will.
Live by my own quote "At the end of the day, I know I'm gonna be fine."

Cruising down on two wheels soon, I'm so psyched for it.




-------

Lectures are never fun..



♫ Explosions In The Sky -  Take Care, Take Care, Take Care. ♫


I decided to blog once more to kill more time, same day though.
Got up rather late this morning and decided to cab all the way down to CDC (ComfortDelgro Driving Centre) for my Defensive Riding Lessons, which is probably the last theory lesson I have to take before embarking on my RTT and practical lessons.

It was fine, just that it's hella dry, common sense, but it isn't so common so it's mandatory that everyone has to sit through it. Ah well.
Videos were shown, you know. Many videos, oldies with ridiculous soundtrack that I think the creators would probably wonder why did they compose such melodies in the first place.

Scenes of death and injuries were very common and it kinda led me to think twice about taking Class 2B, but since I've already started, might as well complete it right?
It was fine in the end, but I'm hella tired now, it's nearing H-Hour and I gotta leave home soon.

-

I've read quite a number of blogs and posts and I can probably say I'm psyched and hyped at the same time to hurry and complete Ex. Starlight and finish this hurdle.
Hawaii can wait honestly; it's a reward I guess. \o/

Err, yea on the way back, there were two ladies sitting 3 rows in front of me.
Of course, they were looking fine as heck, skin brimming with youth, hair all pinned neatly, clothes showing curves and all those shenanigans, until an elderly lady boarded the bus and sat in front of them.
Right then, I realize, we're all gonna age at some point of our lives, and there's no stopping.

Sure, our bodies all age differently. I'm 22 and I think I look like what 19? (No honestly not being ridiculous here lol).
And for some reason, a quote from a skit from WongFuProduction flashed in my mind.

"We are the young lovers our older selves will someday reminisce about."

Not so much about the young lovers part, but at some point of time, our older selves will remember and reminisce the younger times, times of innocence and fun.
What's there to worry about when we were younger? Work? Money? Starting a family?
None. What I worry about when I was younger was more of like, grades and finding a significant other?
Probably not the right time to blog intelligent stuff now because I'm tired as heck, but hopefully I make sense!

Back to topic in hand, just looking at the two different ladies of different age, just amazes me of how different they are; one looking so feminine and sleek, while the older lady has white streaks of hair, wrinkly skin, but much wisdom.
It's amazing, but it didn't felt right, whatever the reason is.
I can lie on bed and blog all day. With two hours left to spend before a month away, probably isn't the best solution.

I'm really hoping that I've packed every single thing I need before flying off to Taiwan because honestly it always feels that I'm missing something. Always.
But at the end of the day, it's fine.
It always is.
Youth and love, something so common nowadays (ah look something just popped up again).

Just these short 5 days, I noticed so much this generation has to offer.
This generation has became so bold in the wrong way.
Keyboard warriors has spawned almost everywhere, they can hide behind technology and run away from troubles.
Act as if nothing happened. Well it's probably a topic for some other day.

-

Oh worries be gone, what's there to worry about Taiwan..
Just do your best and everything will be fine.
I honestly feel so lost in a good way right now.
So wow, much deep, going to ORD lo, see you guys soon.

Would you look at that; the end is near.

I'm still in a state of shock that i managed to clear my BTT (Basic Theory Test) on the first try,
because I honestly thought I was in deep sh*t after only deciding to study 2 days before the test.
But nevertheless I still did it with 2 points to spare and I'm highly motivated to attend all the theory and practical lessons that Class 2B has to offer (again).

So much so that I actually have 3 days of lessons this week though I really wanna rest, but the faster I clear the faster I'll get the license.
I asked my parents of if I could get a bike of my own but like all concerned parents, they were reluctant.
I could see why, danger, taxes, what crap Singapore has to offer to suck money off our pockets.
I really wish they would change their mind because for the longest time (like 12 months if that helps), I was looking forward for the chance to do so.

Time will tell though, it's April and theres more to come.
Oh I got a shortboard for around $40 bucks; while Ripcurl sells for $149.90 and I nearly shat my pants lol!
Gonna take it got a spin before heading for Taiwan.
And oh yea might be heading for Hawaii, USA for a bilateral exercise.
Sh*t balls I'm so psyched up but it's happening in July for 16 days.

 Selection's tomorrow though and I'm possibly gonna push for it because since years back I always wanted to go to the states, and why not Hawaii before ORD?

2014 rocks my booty c'mon bring it on!

11 days before Taiwan,

I've been reading quite abit about the training we're gonna have there and I safely say I'm quite excited for it.
It's probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip and ain't gonna happen anytime soon, and hey it's Taiwan so why not right?

Yes training is always tiring but different country, terrain, people, environment will definitely make training more unpredictable and enjoyable nevertheless, but ultimately safety is the most important.

R&R wise (Rest&Relax) should be pretty good and that's also another thing I'm looking forward to!
Overall, it's merely 146(?) days left before ORD, boy am I excited or what?
Class 2B on the way too so yea it's definitely an exciting period for me.
Lotsa things are changing and so far 2014 has been great!
Till then-

Less than a month  before Taiwan but the pain wasn't as bad as I thought it will be.
Its a like, okay, just go through the painful suffering and it'll be over.

It's like we trust each other in the team too much that it doesn't matter anymore.
Cliché as it sounds, so long everyone sticks together it'll be okay.

-

Leas than a month to btt and I'm actually quite excited actually.. bikes kinda excites me as much ad bicycles did before and I can't wait to get riding again!
But the real question is whether is it bad to be excited about it or be scared, because the rush will let you be reckless, but I guess it can be an adrenaline rush?

Nah I don't really know what I'm really talking about cuz' it's after lunch and everyone's sleepy.
Like for what reason should there be a 'Soldier Challenge' before an outfield?
SAF does stuff weirdly and I don't wanna emphasize anymore 'bout it. Ah well

Went for a 4 day 3 night outfield which was by far, the most tiring one yet.

I think we walked a total of 20 plus kilometers with near 15kg of load or perhaps more, got bitten almost 50 times by sandflies and mosquitos, and have blisters on places I never had before.
But I'm surprised I managed to pull through the ordeal, and actually survived it.

I honestly thought I would have fall out because I was simply too tired to continue; I took like 10 steps and bent down 10 seconds to catch my breath before continued to endure the pain on my back and legs.
But alas, it's done, 2 more crucial outfields before everything's done.

And yea I signed up for my Class 2B's BTT on April and hopefully everything goes according to plan too.
It's late, I've kinda lost weight, and sleep is waiting.
I really hope things will go better. Life's pretty good at the moment actually.
Think far and and not ajar whoop whoop

I found a word,  which I wanted to upload a picture containing the description and pronunciation of it but.. i'm on mobile so it's a tad hard lol

Anyway, I'm gonna graciously type it out here because not only I'm nice, but I'm too free, so here it is.

Saudade (noun)
A nostalgic longing to be near again to something or someone that is distant, or that has been loved and then lost.
Pronounced as Sau-da-dE

I myself ain't sure myself about the pronunciation but anyway, I've been thinking of people whom I've lost last year, basically gramms and my ex. I couldn't sleep the whole of yesterday after dreaming of a young lady the day before, whom reminded me of times when I could share things, whether relevant or just daily things. I long for that moment because I would say I'm a very expressive person, almost an attention addict? I'm not sure myself. I clearly remember her telling me that she was Veronica for some reason, was around 1.7m, had long hair and beautiful eyes, and I met her while crossing the road on dusk, on a warm sunset near the green plains. It was so good walking beside her and sharing my day, we shared an elevator to this office kinda place, though she was kinda rough, I honestly would say it was a soothing and nostalgic dream. But of course, all dreams had to come to an end. I awoke to myself lying in bed, staring up to blank space, breathing rather heavily, or was I heaving, I don't quite remember. All I know is I miss last year, though 2014 has just started, a long sense of belonging is missed.

Well I don't really know what I just typed, it wasn't easy cus I'm having sweaty palms typing on this touchscreen pad that goes bongus very easily. But I don't know why I remember these so clearly because we tend to forget 90% of our dreams the upon awake for 10mins.. so that's kinda weird.
But yea I couldn't sleep the whole night, body and mind subconsciously awake the whole night. Even waking up for first parade and proceeding back to bed, nope. I had static exercises and a 15km run to wear myself out but heck no I was energetic!

Not sure if it's a sign or so, it's really something to note off so I'm leaving a wall of text for anyone to read if you would 😊

Future ride?


I'm thinking of getting a Honda Phantom TA 200 after seeing much of them on the rode, and I honestly think it's a decent one worth getting.
Whether 1st hand or 2nd hand, not sure for now, but really depends on income and stuff..

Getting the license itself's gonna be a pain in the butt, the waiting is really a waste of time and I really wish lessons can be conducted more frequently. But being Singapore, it's all about the wait!

I guess it's all about the patience now isn't it? Just 7 more months!

Well look at this skinny fella 7 years ago, derp good times in inno!

I got back at like 2 plus last night but couldn't sleep till like 3?
And I decided to join my fella friends for a run this morning which didn't turn out too well actually..
I ran like 3 rounds of 400m but I guess I was kinda tired after the third, (was supposed to do 6), so yea..

Honestly I haven't really had a good PT session, intervals to be exact, ever since BMT, or to be exact, I haven't ran intervals since June, but knowing I can't run now's pretty a good gauge of where I stand.
But to be complete honestly, it's actually good that I got out of bed to actually go run!
At least I know I got out of bed on a Saturday and not sleep till like what noon and be all lazy.

And.. it's pretty much a good start too I guess?
I guess I should be drinking more water too and not too much sweet and nasty and gushy stuff. It's terrible :P
Well I bought a 1.5l of water to begin with, so I guess YES it's something!

But I've been having a nostalgia trip down to 2007 reading blogs.. it's really interesting reading old posts and seeing old pictures that's just wow..
It's actually sad seeing a number of blogs being closed because of the author's inactivity, and all those old memories just disintegrate at the same time too.
Personally I'll just keep mine to see all the stupid and fun stuff I had when I was still a teenager. Derp I still am and pretty much stay the same till more hormones drown my brain to convince me that I'm an adult. hah!