Hits & Misses

What a wasted week. Monday was spent, well, out of camp and doing productive things like gymming, swimming and resting. Good proper rest. Something that I can't get in camp, especially as The Day draws near. It must be the hard pillow really. Spent two unproductive days in camp learning some OM course that I eventually dropped out from, although staying out made the time past much faster.

The whole of today was spent typing transcripts and testimonials for the guys. At least that we did something slightly useful. One of the rare occasions that I had to use my brains since... since a long time. Most of the reference material they gave for testimonial writing was so repetitive that I had to edit a lot if it. Still, after having to type them three times in a row, I don't think I made much sense for many of the men's transcripts. Oh well.

Cheryl'll be back tomorrow! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm kinda glad she's coming back after so long. And it's not just because she'll be buying duty-free Hoegarden back for me. Haha.

Anyway, I guess it's timely to publish a list of what I'll probably miss after ORD, and what I definitely won't. Here goes:

Misses

1) Visits to the doctor. Being a Citibank or HSBC Credit Card member gives you the privilege of free and priority entry to Zouk or MOS respectively, on certain nights on a first come, first-served basis right? Being a member of the SAF entitles you to free and priority entry to government polyclinics, specialist medical centres and hospitals. Regardless of the number of people admitted! That is, if you're smart enough to "upgrade" to see the family physician (at the government's expense of course). Otherwise, you've gotta wait in line with all the peasant masses. But you still get free consultation, treatment and medication anyway. I reckon I've run bills of up to two thousand dollars in my NSF term. Never in my life have I visited the doctor just for fun. Not until I enlisted. =)

2) Free food and accomodation. Spending nights in camp may make the week seem longer, but after a while you sort of get used to it I think? The food sucks though, but the idea of getting it free just seems nice. Staying-in also helps me to train for hostel life in the near future. I mean, if you've been living in a thirteen-man bunk with communal toilet facilities, what's hall living man? Haha.

3) All the times that we could miss outfield for one reason or another. Sensitive issue. Can't discuss openly. But boy were we overjoyed each time training was cancelled.

4) Sleeping during office hours. Or watching DVDs. Or playing Balderdash. Or reading newspapers and magazines and novels. Which other job in the world pays you to do all that while "working"? We train hard. We work hard. But we play/relax harder.

5) All expenses-paid trips overseas. Free two-way tickets, food and lodging, a live firing experience (expending thousands of dollars per round shot), educational tours, performances, and duty-free shopping. What more could you ask for?

6) Camps that are close to home. Not that I like the idea of staying in SAF Camps, but I do miss Pasir Laba, SAFTI and Jurong Camp simply because they're comparatively newer than Amoy Quee Camp (especially Pasir Laba). And soooo close to Westwood Avenue. In fact, about a mere five kilometres or so away. These camps have a vast array of facilities and edible canteen food I must say. I should have been posted there man. =(

7) The camaraderie and espirt de corps. Oh the fun that we had as trainees and even as specialists. The silly things we would do and the trouble that we would get ourselves into. It's like going back to school all over again. Only that we're in a school for big boys and the punishment is much more severe than just standing on one leg on the table.

8) Lame cheers and songs that we'd used to sing at recruits and trainess. Some of them are really quite stupid, but still, stupid can be fun you know. Just ask Samuel Soon.

NOT

1) Cookhouse food from our homegrown Singapore Food Industries. While the quality of food served in camps has supposedly improved by leaps and bounds, this only holds true before a quality survey comes round. Or when some big shots, for some weird reason, decide to try out the cookhouse food. A big change from the long lunches they usually have out of camp. And the delicious food you see being served in Bao Jia Wei Guo? They only serve that once in a while. Otherwise, I can't swallow most of it. Sorry I guess I've got spoilt taste buds!

2) The Standard Obstacle Course. Shivers.

3) Sai-kang and other shit work in return for off-days that are never recorded and never get to clear. The carrot approach has never worked for me anyway.

4) Sai-kang and other shit work that superiors try to disguise as honourable work. You better do it or else... Hahahahahaha. Who're they trying to kid. The stick approach doesn't sit well with anyone either.

5) Sai-kang and other shit work or activity at the last minute due to some screwed up planning or poor disemination of information by "higher HQ". But what's new. This is The Decisive Force after all. And it's all in the name of "NATIONAL SERVICE". Serving our country requires sacrifice you know, we shouldn't complain, we should take pride in what we do, we should...

6) Parades. And more parades. One of the major reasons why we get so much sai-kang. The actual parade only last a few minutes while preparations and rehearsals last hours. All for some higher-ups who don't really know what we're going through.

7) The intense politics, power struggles and rampant corruption that can turn friends who've gone through thick and thin during trainee day, into rivals and even enemies. Sometimes you'd really just want to get away from it all. If only life was this perfect. Not. This only serves as an indication on how the real working world'd be like.

8) Weekend duties. Weekends are sacred. Weekends are precious. Enough said.

6 February 2008. One more working day. Five more absolute days. Oh I can hardly wait.

This arrived in the mail sometime last week. Just signed up for Sundown. Early-bird registration so it's relatively cheaper than what I paid for SCSM 2007. Sheesh. Hope I didn't make a rash decision - register now, regret later. Haha.