Been enjoying myself so far. Yest morning went out to see the doctor for my rashes, bought some stuff for NS. Afternoon went out with tak to Giant. Was quite a complicated dilemma in getting my bike =[ but I got it in the end. $189. Fun though. Cos all the other bikes are similar to my old one so I figure I might as well get something different, or there'd be no point in my getting another bike. So I got the one with the suspension. =P Looks cool.

Cycled all the way down to Kovan, then we had carrot cake for dinner and I ordered stingray. Must enjoy. =P Then we decided to drop by the Kovan Starlight Movie Screening so we just parked our bikes at the side and watched an impromptu movie. Alvin and the Chipmunks. We shall go do that again next month.

After that decided to cycle past YM's house to see if he was in. Xiaobai ran out to greet me so I played with her a while and tak went crazy over her and YM's bro came out and saw me so we went in to sit for a while. Then he called the twins over for supper at Xin Wang HK Cafe.

5 of us went for supper, then I sent tak home. BY then was pretty damn shagged. Bathed and slept over, then cycled home today to pack my field pack. Now sitting in front of the TV. Can't wait, most likely will be booking out on Wed for extended holiday. Yay! =] Oh yeah, talking to my senior now quite cool. After NS den got things to talk about. LOL.

Hotel California - The Eagles

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
�this could be heaven or this could be hell�
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the hotel california
Any time of year, you can find it here

Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the captain,
'please bring me my wine'
He said, 'we haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine'
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the hotel california
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said 'we are all just prisoners here, of our own device'
And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'relax,' said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

This song was playing during my last dinner outside. How apt.

Well, I'm back. I'm not exactly sure how much to put up here so I'll just say a few vague things. Anyway, it's all I expected it to be and more. BUT, since quite a bit of it was expected, I did adjust quite ok. Basically if everyone in my platoon follows instructions and we don't screw up, we're all right. Most of my sergeants are quite reasonable actually, we just have to meet standards.

Right now my only problem is PT, because I'm not fantastically fit, but I do expect to to improve well, hopefully. The girls say I look different. =P Anyway, first book out was as we say in my company, AWESOME! =.= Lol. Met tak and xw and shurong, then mel and raye came alon later too. I think I shall mess about and do stuff I wanna do online later, then read blogs tomorrow, get my rashes looked at, buy stuff tomorrow, and hopefully go cycling with tak. ^^

UPDATE:
Sigh. I did something stupid today and I feel really bad. =[ I'll try to make it up though I know it won't make much of a difference. Why am I such an idiot? Sigh. Dumb dumb me. It's really bad of me. I just wasted the trust others put in me because of that slip. Stupid stupid stupid. NS makes you stupid. Sigh. Trying not to swear here. I don't want to degenerate.

[NOTE TO ALL READERS: For my updates, check my Twitter!]

Hmm today was quite boring too. Went out in the morning to buy stuff, like a cheap black watch, some toiletries, and hangers.Spent most my time surfing online. Wasn't going to start a new book, because I wouldn't have time to complete it. Lost track of time, but turned up at Dhoby at 6:45, so tak still waited there for 25 mins. Raye and XW arrived at 7.

Had dinner at Pastamania, and talked. Ben called us halfway, and we talked to him also. Wandered around the shops, saw them go crazy over various apparel and soft toys. Lol. XW bought a polar bear as a birthday present. Then went to Carrefour to look for a volleyball for Raye. Didn't find it. They didn't sell them at World of Sports also. We took pictures, of all places, in Carrefour. Lol.

Then went to look around the directory. No photo printing shops. =[ Went to Spotlight where XW bought a huge box and wrapping paper and ribbons. Raye bought slippers, then we headed home. Well, I guess it was fun. Haha. Later rushed out of the MRT to Compass Point's B1 only to find the photo shop closed. Then...I saw the other photo shop lights still on.

Went there to see the instant print machine dead and lifeless. Sigh. Too bad then. Went back with a wasted trip and returned with nothing. Maybe in two weeks time then.

Anyway, I should be turning in soon. Tomorrow is a very big day, involving a large amount of hair loss. Ha-ha. I've been updating my MP3 player. Found a really nice song. It's old, but it's rated one of the best songs of the 90's and it's just so darn nice. It's full of self-hate and emoness, but even without factoring that in I find it a nice song by itself. So don't worry, I'm not going to kill myself in camp. I think. Haha!

Radiohead - Creep


When you were here before,
Couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel,
Your skin makes me cry

You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
I wish I was special
You're so fucking special

But I'm a creep,
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here

I don't care if it hurts,
I wanna have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul

I want you to notice
when I'm not around
You're so fucking special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here, ohhhh, ohhhh

She's running out the door
She's running out
She run run run run...
run...

Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You're so fucking special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep,
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here

I don't belong here...

Also, I uploaded the original full-size pics up here, so you all can just rip them off.






How about a memorial farewell video? Quite relevant right? Haha.


This is indeed turning out to be less of a final post than I envisioned it to be. A recount of the day's activities, photos, song lyrics, and a video. How amusing. As of this writing, I have like, what? 8 hours left.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for being there for me, for reading my insignificant daily ramblings, and basically for your continued support. I know that you guys will keep this blog alive, as I too, will try to Twitter from my forced exile without burning a hole in my pocket. I look forward to a date two weeks from now when I have to sift through the chat history of my tagboard.

For now, it's time to take a bow, and I bid thee goodbye.

Au revoir,
-=[K]=-
10 April 2008

As the last of his songs were loaded into his MP3 payer, he sat back and watched. When they were done, he casually unplugged his player, and returned the wire to where it was. Pausing, he thought for a moment and put the wire in a convenient space in a cupboard. He shut down his laptop. As the digital tune signaled the powering down, he closed the lid with a firm click. He placed it neatly at the side of his table, and scanned the surface to see if he had missed out anything.

Wires, etcetera, and other items that were havens for dust were packed away neatly in cupboards, away from exposed areas. His desk was neat and all was as it should be. All prepared for his extended absence. Uncluttered and simple, anything that did not need to be out there was not out there. He flicked off all the switches and unplugged his speaker, radio, telephone, and room fan. He would not be needing those for a while.

Walking to the door, he scanned his room one last time, trying to spot anything that should not be, or was out of place. His normally neat room would be tidier than usual. But then again, these were unusual circumstances. Leaving the room, he turned off the lights, pulling the door shut.

The ray of light thrown on the floor grew thin, dwindled, shrank, and finally was extinguished.

[UPDATE]
Oh yeah! When I go in, REMEMBER TO CHECK MY TWITTER! I will most likely be be updating through there, so I won't be cut off fully!
[/UPDATE]

Spent today lazing about on the sofa, reading and listening to the radio. Finished Smoke Screen by Kyle Mills. It wasn't what the synopsis offered, but it wasn't bad. Also finally finished The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure by Adam Williams. Despite the rather colourful title, it was quite a good read, and I felt for the characters who died. It is set during the turbulent times of the Boxer rebellion in China, and the plot is quite interesting.

It was on these pages that I saw a very relevant quote about war, relevant because this is the penultimate day of my life as a free man.

"...and young men and boys, as he once had been, would continue to rally round flags, and their officers would urge them on with attractive sounding creeds. Only later would they discover, if they became older and wiser, that it was the same creed, the naked struggle for power, garbed in different slogans, different uniforms, different banners."

-The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure, Adam Williams

And it is quite true, is it not? Dulce et decorum est and all that. Since the beginnings of man and the beginnings of organised fighting. Basically it all means the same thing. I'm going to miss my literary side when I go in. In advance, I bid my higher intelligence a fond farewell. Haha! Cheers.

1 day and 11 hours more.

I suppose to a certain extent, my constant reading and lazing about may be seen as a desperate attempt to squeeze as much pleasure out of life as possible, or even a way to hide and run away from it all. To escape from the inevitable. It takes my mind off things.

One of which is that I have yet to receive a call from the universities yet. I tell(lie?) to myself that I submitted my application quite late, but not all hope has extinguished yet so I'm still clinging on to that.

Another is avoiding thinking about the foolhardiness of applying to the School of Art Design and Media when my (limited!) range of artistic sensibilities consists of making tiny stick figures kill and maim each other with miniature blades and automatic weapons, and generally do very bad things to each other.

They have to be laughing at my drawings, which are unequivocally CRAP. Well, honestly, SHIT really. No point blunting my words now, is there? I have really gone and put my foot in it this time. Or rather, hand. Ha-ha. Sometimes I amuse myself. Indeed.

On a side note, I have idly watched the proceedings of the Olympic Torch (Quite a fiasco, really.) throughout Europe the past few days with a rather amused eye. When I first saw the announced route, I wondered why they missed out Singapore. Watching the poor beleaguered procession limp around the great cities of London and Paris, I silently smirked.

They really should have chosen Singapore, really. I'd love to see those protesters try and pull stunts here, and get stomped on by typical Singaporean...pragmatism, shall we call it? Note that I'm not on either side here, I just feel it would be quite an...experiment.

Look at me ramble again. I suppose that in a way, one of the things I'm avoiding is my imminent loss of certain personal freedoms. It is going to be quite an experience. I have been away from home for extended periods of times before (Taiwan), but that was for pleasure. This, is different. Haha. Right now, in fact, Taiwan seems pretty much like a dream. I can hardly believe I flew over a thousand(?) km without parental supervision, but right now I am agonizing over my exile to a little piece of jungle and birdshit a few km off Singapore.

I will be out of contact (for the most part) with my friends. True, the first few months may not be that bad. But it's for two years. I know I will be missed and I will miss too. But this is a thought that ben made me realise. Soon they will be moving into uni. With schoolwork and other friends to juggle too. Two years. Will the bond of our friendship strain and wear? Will they hold?

I'm not belittling the ties we have. This thing is, it's two years. A lot can happen in two years. Can it handle the extended separation? The being in two different places? The different schedules? The different friends? The different lifestyles? For the short term, I'll hopefully be fine. But I don't usually think that way. I think long term. I'm a long term person. After all, the long term is...forever. Or however long forever seems in our puny short human lives anyway.

How now, my friends?

I should be getting around to be packing the stuff I need for NS tomorrow. I also want to registet for BTT soon, probably after my first two weeks. Spent today as usual, reading, watching TV and listening to the radio. I cried today. Because I was helping my mother chop onions for dinner. Haha.

Later went for pool with YM and Siwei. Nothing much else. Tak's skill at giving missed calls is unparalleled, I only discovered I had one 20 mins afer she did it. =X 2 more days to go...

I had originally planned to post a series of poems here in the preceding days before my enlistment, A-Wilfred-Owens-War-Poem-A-Day programme. Forgive me. Occasionally I have leanings toward the melodramatic. But regarding certain developments, I have decided not to do so due to certain sensitivities. Fear not, blogging will still continue as per normal. =]

Oh yes I forgot to mention tak made me eat a long bean yesterday. It was a rather large one (by my standards!) and I believe it is the first time I have consciously eaten a long bean of that size. I don't like long beans. =[ Lol. I wonder what army food has in store.

Anyway back on track, today was pretty boring. Read, listened to the radio, and went to the gym. Later went to meet XW at Marine Parade Library. I found my way using IRIS journey planner, so thankfully SBS did something right. Was a little weird because of all the TKSS people, but at least val sat beside me so I had someone to talk to also.

Later went to PS to watch the Three Kingdoms. So many period movies recently. Was a pretty nice show I guess. Very Dynasty Warriors-ish. I feel inspired to go and read 孙子兵法. (Sun Tzu's Art of War) Lol. 3 days and 7 hours more. Time flies really quickly. I will be leaving everyone behind.

I have only found a few people leaving on the same day as me. Only one of them is at the same time, and I don't know him that well. =[ I will miss everyone. Rah. I've said that a dozen times. Just knowing others have already been through it isn't going to make it easier for me. That said, I'll be much happier when it's over.

"All warfare is based on deception."

-Sun Tzu's Art of War

Went bowling with tak today. Spent the most part of the day at home reading and stoning. Later went to Kovan. Was supposed to go bowling with tak. Shawn came along because he was gonna go with me to the gym later. Ended up waiting almost 2 hours. =[ Then we decided to just enjoy ourselves. Played 4 games. Tak kept running back to look at the animations. Haha.

Played a game of HOTD4 with tak. Died. =[ Dapaoed food to tak's house to eat and then she went with me to top up my card before going back to my bus-stop. Anyway I think I not going to army market. Lazy. Probably might not need it anyway. =[

Uh...today woke up at 0650 to go to NTU after sleeping at 0130 plus AM the night before. Left the house at 0715, reached CP at 0730, Outram at 0800, Boon Lay at like 0830, and I saw 179 so I ran for it, and reached NTU at 0845, half an hour only. I wake up at 0650 to attend a 1000 hours test. Ugh.

Anyway, I nearly got lost, but I mnaged to find LT2A. Shall not go into the finer details. Test was ok. I was having second thought on the way though. I saw this girl with one thick file of artwork, but whatever she brought that for, I dunno. Also I saw some people draw lots of stuff. And frankly, my drawing skills are shit.

Plus, I nearly ran out of time, so my drawing for Question 3 option a looked like it was done by a friggin' 12 year old. Genius. Pure genius. Sigh. At least there was this cute girl sitting in front to my left. Rar. =[ Afterwards, I went to find ben, val and xw instead of tak because I'd be attending alone. And leaving alone. =X

We went to Cafe Cartel for lunch, and XW and Ben waited a long while while some bengs and lians hogged the DDR machine by "rotating shifts". =.= There were 10+ to 20 in total. In the end they gave up and left, and went to tcc to find val. They went to the other arcade, and I sat there because I felt really tired suddenly. Think it's been a while since I had about 5 hours of sleep.

Left later to go home and out again to go to the gym. It started pouring, so waited at Macs till it stopped before going. Still got my feet soaked. After that, was going to go for supper but raye couldn't make it and tak felt tired. =[ Next time ba. Later went to meet my dad and sis at Yoshinoya before going home.

6 more days! Gosh. =X *HINT* I want to see everyone before I go. *HINT*

Will you miss me when I'm gone?

Lol.

Back at home. Gosh. We've really neglected Mugalo. =[ Came back from dinner with my colleagues. Make that ex-colleagues. 7, I mean 6 days to my enlistment. I dunno what to feel. It'll come I guess. A new experience. Dinner with Val, XW, Weijin, Shurong last night was ok. Service could've been a little better. I had tenderloin.

Didn't go gym today. =[ Tomorrow, not sure. Maybe not possible. I think it's possible I actually like going. Lol. Tak asked me that today. Anyway, went out to meet tak to pass her her file and was supposed to send her home to Kovan and back to Outram to meet my colleagues.

But my sis forgot to bring her keys. =.= Of all people, she should know. We always leave her alone at home, my parents working, me working/going out. She should know not to take my presence at home for granted. Of all people, me! Especially now I'm not working, I'll either be out running/at the gym/out with friends.

Went all the way back with her and then to Outram again. Reached at 7. I wasn't the latest. Dinner today was pretty good. Vinny ordered 3 plates of escargot, and 2 of scallops. Yum. I had ribeye steak. CX came really late. Lol. They wanted to go to boat quay to drink but I couldn't cos I have the NTU ADM test tomorrow.

Oh I saw Yvonne! Lol. I often bump into her one... =\ Several times already. Shawn came late. They all went there for dinner. What a coincidence. Reminds me of the itme I was on a bus and looked down to see the twins at the bus stop.

Thanks to the convenient placement of NTU, I have to wake up at 7am to be pretty sure I'll make it early. =[ After that I think I can either choose to go to the gym or join tak for the Danceworks thing at St. James. Then supper at night with tak and raye, then I'll be going to the army market on Sun with XW to buy some extra stuff.

Even jobless, my days are pretty packed. And I want to continue going to the gym really soon. Grr...

Oh and today, we saw this really randy old couple at the restaurant. They were all over each other. As in ALL OVER EACH OTHER. Really frisky, like. Their hands were like newly landed Mars rovers. Vroom vroom and off we go! I heard they were caught having sex in their car in the carpark. Caught on CCTV. I'm all for freedom of sexual expression and all, age notwithstanding, but try to find a less public place for your activities, yeah?

Hmm. Usually I try to avoid sensitive topics like race and religion on this blog because I know how thorny they can be. So...tiptoeing around all the minefields, here're the facts plain and simple. My dad got me a bible. For NS. It was on the advice on my aunt. Uhhh...gee thanks, I appreciate the divine protection, but isn't it a little big?

It's the full book size. Well, some people may not mind, but honestly, I'm not that thrilled at lugging a book to and fro when I've got all that extra crap and dirty laundry to carry also. Not when there's like pocket-sized versions? Strictly from an objective point of view, it's also going to take up space. When I protested and said that there were smaller versions, he gave me A Look. =[ So he said I can just leave it at home and read it. Ok. That's not too bad.

Besides, Mythbusters already proved a book can't stop a bullet. Ok, I kid. I just couldn't resist. No disrespect intended. I know when to toe the line ok? Peace. =P

Just came back from gym. Having lunch. Goin out to run later in the afternoon, then dinner with Val. Oh I forgot, dinner on Fri with my colleagues, so no supper with tak. =X Maybe Mon.

Being occupied at home makes me realise why so many guys turn to gaming. You long for an objective, a goal, something to work forward to. Whether it is awaiting the end of the work day or putting an expertly placed bullet in a Nazi soldier's head, you desire action. Have I mentioned I like playing sniper? Lol.

Anyway, YAY I guess i can call XW now. Didn't know you were still unemployed. =X As the saying goes, "You don't know what you've got, till it's gone." I now fully appreciate having such close friends in the form of taky, val and xw because, frankly, it is rather questionable to have one guy call another late at night simply because he is bored.

But with all of them, we can have conferences! (Ben included.) And I love you all deeply for making my life so much more fun and memorable with you guys. (Aww isn't that sweet?) While some other guys grind away to reach the next level in their games, I while away my nights with 3 lovely ladies on the phone heheh. =X All said and done, I will miss your company when I'm another dumb military grunt. =[

And with val holding 2 jobs and going off on a holiday, there'll be one less person to talk to at night. I hate you for leaving me here just like that. =[ Lol. ANyway, I alm pretty tired so I won't upload any pics tonight. Spent my day watching TV like XW , then went to the gym in the evening w/ Shawn. Same thing tomorrow, except there'll be running. =X

[UPDATE]
I think something's wrong. For the whole of today the left side of my chest has been twinging in pain, on and off. It wasn't like this yesterday. I wonder what's the matter.
[/UPDATE]

UHHGH. FARG. I tried to charge my phone with the plug behind my seat but the dumb plug doesn't work so when I unplugged it and tried to switch to the plug in fornt, I noticed the MJ lanyard had looped itself around the radio antenna. I raised the phone to try and untangle it and I saw the antenna moving in a way it was not designed to. Forward.

I saw the radio tip forward in slow motion, and the clock I put on top of the radio tip forward and clatter on the ground. I swore and pciked up the stupid clock only to have 2 little bits of something fall out. Way to go, Ken. Especially after I just made the clock drop on the floor a coupla days ago.

ANyway how's my April Fools' joke? Came up with it quite a few weeks back. Heheh. =P Tak got tricked by it lol. If case you missed it, (=.=) it's a message saying my blog has been blocked by the MDA and MINDEF because of the picture of Tekong. LOL. Anyway, today I stayed in bed till 1130. Hehs. No more work. finished my SMU submission, and then went for a run and gym with Shawn and Xiangyu.

Reached home for dinner, nothing to do now. =[ Tak didn't answer just now, so she's prolly busy and val is working now.