The Longest Night

Okay, the title may seem a bit exaggerated, but 20SA just had her longest night. No doubt it was certainly less gruelling and nowhere as extreme as what the men from 661st Battalion Guards went through in Wallaby 2006 (Reference: latest issue of PIONEER), but still, it was torturous nonetheless.

Honestly speaking, those back from Battleking (including yours truly), are technically still on off-in-lieu. But we had to drag ourselves (literally!) and our duffel bags back to camp early on Thursday night for some pre-CNY celebration. What do you get when you cross fried bee hoon, chicken wings, exploding Coca Cola cans, traditional yu sheng and hundreds of restless young men (and a few ladies)? A war zone! The parade square was littered like nobody's business and of course, the honourable job of cleaning up fell upon us to complete.

And cleaning up was exactly what we did for the whole night. Once the parade square was done, we proceeded to spring clean our bunks, offices and common areas. Cupboards, beds and other furniture were shifted and then re-shifted again, in order to cater to the preferences of some higher-ups. Floors were swept, washed and some areas were even vacuumed. Wall fans were taken aparted to be wiped and reassembled. And then there was the standard cupboard and bunk layout to be adhered to religiously. Not a corner was spared. Yes, do you believe it? Back to BMT stand-by bed standards! Even for specialists and commanders like us! Well on the bright side, the specs' bunk acquired a television, DVD player and Altec-Lansing speakers + subwoofer from who knows where. But hey, that means one less reason to book out during nights' off right? Haha.

Of course there were the occasional bunk inspections by mid-level commanders throughout the night, to make sure we weren't sleeping and the required standards met. The final inspection was by CO himself, I mean "if not him, then who"? Even so, Bravo had to wait for like three hours before it was our turn (Charlie and Alpha had their inspections first). As with most other stand-by bed inspections, we didn't pass on the first try. So it was back to arranging and rearranging our cupboard layouts and doing some final touch-ups. It was about 3 p.m. were we finally let off the hook. Some spring cleaning huh.

Anyway the eve's tomorrow and Chinese New Year's only two days' away. Still, I ain't in the mood. Maybe it's because I've only recently returned from Thailand and reality hasn't really sunk in yet. Indeed it feels pretty strange to be going back to 20SA after only sixteen days of being away. I've pretty much forgotten most of the men's names, save for my own detachment. Sheesh. It's like having to re-establish links and connections all over again. Only that we now have less time to do that, before we start going for outfield exercises again. Less than a week left I think. Not to mention the backlog of duties and admin stuff I'd have to clear. Hmmm.

Then there're youth matters to take care of back in KPC. Gotta catch up with people like Christian and Nicolas, arrange for BS sessions with Andrew and Calvin, work out with Marianne the details of how best should we take the Seventeens, meet up with Fellowship Com. And stuff like that. Indeed, it's back to reality! Haha. Really need God's help to pull through all this. Hopefully things'll return back to normal.

But in the meantime, less of worrying, keeping in mind the very few verses that my blog revolves around, and more anticipation of the festivities lined up ahead. It's Chinese New Year after all! =)