Nothing really interesting today. I took a break and rested in bunk, reading. Finished The Butcher's Theatre. It was good. Found myself trying to get through the chapters to read more about the killer's background.

Nothing much tomorrow but the visit to parliament house. Will have to wear uniform though. =/ i will bring clothes to change.

Today was quite ok. Equipment training in the morning. Then, everyone went for the Engineer formation anniversary celebration. Haha. Was quite cool. They put quite a bit of effort into it. They really had a vehicle bursting out from the middle of the sign BOOM like i guessed.

After that, had a tiny personal pan vegetarian pizza for dinner. Same for everyone. Luckily i could go to the mess for food after. It was SO not filling. The pioneers went out for nights out because they didn't seem to have enough to eat.

More equipment training tomorrow.

Nothing interesting today. Nothing i can say here, that is. =X we redid the test for the pioneers. Went for nights out at...Toa payoh hub. Haven't been there in a while and jj just mentioned it. It was dismal.

There was nothing there of interest. Nothing to shop and look at. Only a typical Singapore neighbourhood and various fnb outlets. We bought food at the night market and went back.

Life has just been mundane and banal. Really nothing much to speak of. It's just not the same without my friends. Sometimes it seems as though they have time for others but not me, despite all this technology. Or maybe i'm just being selfish?

Woke at 12, went home. Did my usual online stuff, did a wallpaper for tak. Then uploaded pics on my Flickr. Went out for dinner, borrowed more books, extended one. Nothing much else. I got new eggs! ^^ MY grown dragons are at the Exits section. So cool.

Oh, I borrowed a book on the fall of Singapore. It's quite interesting. To see the places where the battles were fought.

Got a call this morning from the office. Book in has shifted to 0730 on Mon. I wonder why. And was told to call ops room instead of the office in case of anything. Went to Takaw/ Shawn and Ym in the afternoon. Walked around, Shawn shopped for a new wallet.Went to Vivo for dinner at The Queen and The Mangosteen. Not bad, though the serving was quite small and there could have been more variety.

Amazing how things change. In the span of a few years, our conversations have shifted from Magic cards and school and crap about others to talking about courses to take, planning for the future, setting up businesses, and what we want to do in the future. How things change. Went over to Ym's house, played a little Magic, drank Vodka/Red Bull, and Black Label. We had it as a forfeit. Neat. In a shot glass. Haha. That's about it so far.

"Life was shit; misery the order of the day."

-The Butcher's Theatre, Johnathan Kellerman

Back. Nothing much today. Bought them around for the test on equipment. Don't have anything on today. Will probably go and read, try to finish my novel, and maybe wikipedia info on serial killers. My novels about that. Sounds like a bloody good topic. Ha-ha. Boring as usual.

I am not in a good mood.

It just suddenly happened. A combination of factors. Whatever. I reserve the right to be pissy and standoffish and not happy. Zzz. Just damn sian. Make that very sian. Sigh.

Decided to just go and sit on my bed and listen to my MP3. Haven't done that for a long time. Feels nice, helps to just tune out for a bit. My MP3 is tuned to my mood. Surprisingly all the songs are fitting. Don't know what else i got to say.

Today was ok i guess. Nothing much. Tomorrow may be a busy day. Can't wait to book out. It is a little depressing to see some of the old specs with whom we've become acquainted with ORD soon. Sigh.

I miss my friends. I haven't gone out with any of them in what seems like forever. Frick.

nothing much today. Did stores for most of the day. Someone's being irritating. Oh well, they aren't fit to say anything anyway. They should get their act cleaned up first. Pun intended.

DS tomorrow. Went tamp one today. Uniqlo was ok ba. Alright. But saving money.

Hooray! CO parade today, but someone performed a rain miracle in the morning and it was canceled. =) Nothing much else today. Gave my lectures. Was ok i guess. Caught 2 people sleeping.

Had CO's Evening today. Basically there was a talk, then the opening of a mini gym, and then dinner. Normal cookhouse food. They played Night at the Museum after, then we had a toast. There was beer and cake. Oh we got a cute souvenir. =) Doing stores tomorrow.

A fluffy constellation, a cluster of tiny wisps of cloud tinged a lovely pink by the setting sun. A stroke against the deep blue of the dying day, like a careless brushstroke left by an errant painter.
---
He had spent 17 hours in the office. It was a quiet day, but after being harassed by the surprisingly frequent phonecalls looking for people who were not there and 10 minutes of elusive sleep, he decided to step out for a while.

If he spent any more time there he felt he would snap. Harangued by his thoughts, he went to the smoking point and sat down on one of the plastic chairs. Stared at the greenery. Immersed himself in the sounds of nature, the crickets' symphony, the birdsong, and the therapeutic gentle swaying of the trees. All that he needed was some fresh air. Some quiet alone time.

Attracted by movement, he saw someone enter the office. One of the pioneers booking in. Goodbye peace. He reluctantly got up and walked towards the office.

BOOM.

The sound of a explosion ripped through the tranquility, echoing all around. Unprepared, he flinched, cringed and his heartbeat spiked. EOD conducting training.

Goodbye peace indeed.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

by John Donne

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
---

Back. My FTT is on the 22nd of May. Evening. E-trial at 1615. So that means I probably gotta leave camp by about 3 or so? And I need to borrow a FTT book from someone. Went for breakfast with the folks at Mac and went home. Can't wait to drive.

[UPDATE]
Out of curiosity, I saw those who visit my blog and a mysterious timothy linked me. Sabahboy90 at blogspot. Hmm. I dunno who is it..
[/TREAT]

"In time, anything that was something becomes nothing. existence has no ultimate purpose except cessation."

-The Darkest Evening of the Year, Dean Koontz

Nothing much today. I overslept. GAH. =.= Will have to go tomorrow then. DAMN. I slept at 4 plus last night, and somehow I managed to answer a call quite coherently and turn off my alarm without much fuss and not have much of a memory of those activities. Sixu called me at 930 so...I just gave up and went back to sleep. What to do? Sat in front of the idiot box (well, actually it's more a screen then a box) and watched TV till the evening. Thank goodness for cable at times like this. And read my novel. Whee, half my weekend gone.

Went for dinner, walked around, got my haircut. Met up with Shawn for drinks. Went to the Tavern to Kovan. He's been pretty busy lately so he went drinking. I just had a coke and fries, seeing as how I had dinner earlier. YM was nice. Him and the twins were going for some gathering, so they stopped by the Tavern to give up a lift home. Haha. Uh. That's it. Not very interesting, yes?

Well, for the rest of this week, I've gotta do a weird CDS duty. =.= Attend CO parade. -rolls eyes- And keep the guys in check. Nothing much in sight except the usual stuff and keep a firm grip on them and go on till the end of course...which is late June. Jeez. So the next time I may be getting together with the rest is when course...ends. What the heck. An entire pioneer course. That's really sad when you put it like that...

The end of another week. So far they've been behaving themselves, but they like to argue/bargain/haggle a lot. They have to realise that some things, you just DO FIRST. Ask questions later. Or in any case, just DO IT. Don't try and cut deals and make bargains all the time. You try for discounts we raise the price. Deal or no deal? And they need to know when to be serious and when to relax. Joking at the most inopportune of moments is not going to help your case. Seriously.

I watched Taken just now, which was very nice. Well worth watching. Very action packed. Haha. And with just the right amount of humor too. Not bad. Waking up tomorrow to go book my FTT date, and then hopefully secure a private instructor in the form of my friend's friend's aunt. o_O They say she's good though. Haha. Ah, and to go cut my hair. Other than that, nothing to do at home.

I only have my internet, a miserly trickle of ativities on FB and my blog to entertain me, along with my novels. PSP, not really interested for now. Nothing much else to do but what can I say? People are busy. I feel like I'm just observing them like a ghost or a dead person. Observing activities on another world, from another world without being able to interact. Or like a spacecraft in the cold depths of space receiving occasional transmissions from earth, and even that is stretching it. So...dislocated. Seriously. We might as well all be in different countries for all the difference it makes. Which is not much. Ha-ha.

By the time holidays roll around mid-june(?) I'll be, what? 7 and a half months to ORD? That's a way long time from now. 9 months and 24 days now, by the way. Meanwhile I'll just float here in the cold dark reaches of space until someone reels me in or until something like this happens. =S

Don't have much to say. They were much better today i guess. Quite a big improvement which is good. Finally i'm seeing some standards. And they seem in high spirits. Then again, it may be because it's Thursday... Lol.

Next week is kinda irritating, but oh well. =/ Looking forward to book out. Will book ftt at the very least.

Today went for my nights out because some of the rest went for theirs yesterday. Originally was headed for home but decided to go tampines one with the others.

Went there, walked around. Quite interesting. Didn't go to the store that everyone and their grandmother is talking about. Yes, uniqlo. It was closing. Looks alright but i don't really see the hype.

Dinner today at Kim Gary Restaurant was not bad. Oh i ran into melissa there too! Haha. That's about it. The platoon was better today. Yesterday night got scolded le ma...

Their performance today was horrible. I think i'm too nice to them. Apparently talking nicely and quietly to a bunch of jc and poly grads still isn't enough to get things into their head.

They were absolutely incorrigible today and i surprise myself at not having been harsher on them yet, even when others normally would have. I merely scolded them. Since they don't appreciate niceties, they don't need it. I've been talking about getting serious. It's time to put action into words.

No more Mr. Nice Guy. And this time I mean it.

Blood splatter on the tarmac;
red on white divider.
Black-red stains on wet grass;
an accident victim long gone.

-Requiem, -=[K]=-

Today didn't do much. Helped cut out stuff to decorate the specs book in/out book. Yesterday after book in, one of my guys came to me, quite shaken. He said a dog was injured outside of camp and asked to go help it. Of course that wasn't possible.

However we got permission for me and another spec to go out to take a look. After walking down the road, kw's eyes somehow spotted a splash of red on the road i had missed. It was drying, though wet in places, and kinda looked like ribena. You could see red where the blood was on the divider.

We followed the blood trail to the grass verge at the side of the road. After calling back, we determined it was indeed the spot but the dog was nowhere to be found. We forgot to bring a torch. However, we still failed to find the dog anywhere near.

While on the phone, i suddenly noticed a dark wet patch on the grass. It was probably where the dog lay for a while, and maybe someone rescued it. I think i've seen it before. A black medium sized dog with puppies. Wonder if it's ok.

Huge grey monoliths;
a massive jumble of concrete blocks.
They jut out from the horizon line.
They face the sun.

-Reflections on the city,-=[K]=-

[UPDATE]
I never realised how nice the city looked. A collection of irregular yet regular shaped block and lines in a variety of grey clustered together on the horizon. almost like a ghost city; floating on the edge...just out of reach. A ghost city/ship moored to the tethers of our reality.
[/UPDATE]

Bored at home. Woke up, ate a little then settled down to watch TV. Till about...3pm. Even while watching TV I was bored. Rawr. So...I'm online and there's nothing much else to do. Well I've got TIME and my novels but I'm planning to save those for in camp. Ah well, I'll probably go pack my bag now...

Just finished watching Knowing. Was ok. I liked the middle but the ending was quite the letdown after what they were working up to. All the more so because I felt the middle was quite good. It was tight action-packed suspenseful watching at first. That was nice. Watching the disasters was OUCH and the sound in the cinema was positively deafening.

Hmm...let's see what I did today. Went to meet Sixu at 1230. Met YM at Kovan, had lunch at the coffee shop, then went to the Kovan CDC. It's only for those under school. FROG. FROG IT. =.= So I guess I shall follow Sixu down next Sat because he's gonna open an account with them. And I'll delay my FTT more. FROCK. =.= Irritating. All because I can't top up the money in my acc. to book the test.

Us private losers can't do anything at that branch. =.= Went home, showered, rested for a while, went to Orchard Cineleisure to go Kbox with them. Lol. Stayed there till 1930. Took train down to Vivocity. Had dinner at Brotzeit. Was alright. Cheese platter was a little not very worth it. =S Sausage and ham platters were ok. A glass of german beer. Then went to watch the movie, cabbed back. Jeez...spent a lot today...think about $88. And my pay just came in.

Thus passes my 1 year anniversary. I find it symbolic that I reorganised my music collection in my MP3 before I enlisted last year, and only tinkered with tiny parts of it before. Now, a few days before the anniversary, I deleted everything and readded my songs, resulting in a different sound overall.

Good Friday, April 10th, 2009

The massive thunderheads gathered in the east, like huge battlecruisers amassing for war. Thunderous cannonades rolled across the land, impressive explosions of sound that seemed to almost flatten and crush everything in their path. The skies lit up briefly with stattaco flashes of blinding whiteness. The first drops of rain began to splash on the ledge outside his window, leaving small dark spots.

Back home. Watched anime the whole day. Went to my cousin's place for a family gathering. Alright I guess. Watch my other cousin play Red Alert 3. Quite cool. Haha. Eric invited me to go clubbing with him and Andrew and Ben. =S I guess I kinda want to but I'm a little tired and I sorta wanna save money. =( Rawr. Plus I haven't made up my mind over whether to go M'sia with YM. Should I or should I not? It's $300+expenses for 3 days in Cameron Highlands and Genting.

Nothing much else for me to do I guess. Going to book FTT tomorrow. I'm bored. Starting to think I should have gone clubbing. Sigh. I'm even wary of posting stuff like this on FB cos my aunt and uncle added me. =.= =S

The world is full of lonely corners.

-Ticktock, Dean Koontz


Did nothing much today. Borrowed new books and then went home. Think i'm overdosing on Koontz. Need a change. Watched Bleach the whole day. Went out later to go out with the guys. Forgot to bring camera. Give me something to do. Went to CHIJMES. La Viva Spanish restaurant. Food was quite nice. I wish I'd ordered the steaks or pork chop rather than bangers and mash. =\ Drank a little. Probably going down to Kovan tomorrow to register for my FTT.


HAHAHAHA

BOREDDD. Nothing much to do. Today was on duty. They got it from me. I give commands can be louder then 20+ people singing. =.= Booked out cos I got off tomorrow. =) Got the new uniforms. Looks uh...bleargh. Especially with the epaulette in the middle. Looks like some mutant tie decided to attach itself to your chest. Also The uniform looks really bad with the blue beret. Kinda clashing. Yecch.

Other than that, nothing eventful. Rawr. Wish I could go out somewhere. Oh and I can't register for ibanking online so I can't book my FTT online. WTF. =.= Oh wait. Maybe I can book one at the Kovan office. I shall go and find out tomorrow if I had time.

Nothing much going on. Past week full of lectures. Getting the new uniforms tomorrow. Wonder what it's like. Glad to have more sets for daily use, but this means more washing.

Should be going on off this thursday. But everyone else is busy. This sucks. One of the reasons i try not to take leave now is because NO ONE ELSE is free when i am still, which defeats the purpose of taking leave already. Sigh.

Also considering going M'sia with my friends. 26 to 29. Means 3 days of leave. Estimated cost is 300. Sounds interesting but i am hesitant because i can also go
ahead and save the money too. How?

Oh well, best to just try my best to enjoy my leave though i do miss my friends sorely and make do with what i have. Viva la ORD!
O

Didn;t do much today. tried to install a new router. had some trouble. Waited like 3 hours for tech support to call me back and got nowhere. Problem solved itself. =.= Nothing to watch on TV todays. Jeez. Horrible. 16 cable channels and nothing.

Today looked to be an uninteresting day. After getting my meds, I was recuperating at home with nothing in particular to do till Val called me at 2plus and asked if I wanted to join her at Changi. So I did. Took 89 to PR and then train to Changi T2. Passed by MJ! My platoon has 3 MJ guys. =) And I miss Changi. Haven't been there for so long. I had a little trouble locating Macs. I was on the right floor but didn't see it and went up.

A short while later Ben came. We watched Val study, and a short while later, I made use of all the colourful markers she had to doodle all over her paper. =P Helped pass the time. Took a few pics. After that took more photos on the way to Tamp. Then we realised XW had actually reached earlier than we'd thought! =X So we had to rush. We wrote her a note to apologise and also gave her some stuff. I wish tak had been able to join us too.

Rest of the pics on FB.

I think I'm down with bacterial conjunctivitis. Started out as itching some hours ago when I got home. I thought it was an eyelash or a speck of sand of a fleck of the eye gunk that was caught under my eye lid. No amount of rubbing or drying or wetting could remove it. Thank GOODNESS I didn't rub it furiously. I was tempted to. Gawd. Woke up this morning to find my eye coated in gunk. I went to the toilet to was my face and saw oh-shit-this-is-serious loads of mucus. That's when I knew something was very wrong. Thanks to Dr. Wikipedia I figured it most likely is bacterial conjunctivitis.

Plus I'm supposed to be taking over duty at 8am today. =.= So I had to go around calling up people to find someone to take over me. I remember hearing somewhwere conjunctivitis means you have to stay at home for quite a while because it's very contagious. Oh. I remember something ironic. When doing a test on Thurs, I asked: "Eh? What's conjunctivitis? I dunno!" Well, Now I know. =.=

This morning was dam shag. While on the phone with others my brain stalled quite a bit and I went ah er or um eh and tried to think how to put what was in my mind into words.

Dead snake by road this morning. Buzzing flies on burst carcass. K and KW stood by, fascinated by it. After being told of it by their PS, they had ventured out here to take a peek too. It was about the thickness of a man's arm and over a metre long. Almost two.

It's body had burst and split open, perhaps by the putrefaction going on within. The walls of the ribcage lay neatly open, exposed to the sun. A snarl of intestines lay nearby. A black seething mass of flies covered large areas of the carcass, and the buzzing noise was enough to set one's nerves on edge.

A brief gust of wind stirred, and carried with it the rank smell of raw fish. So this is what dead snake smells like.


Shinjuku Incident.
---
Back. Movie was alright. Not too bad, though ending a bit awkward. Got duty tomorrow. Weekend burnt like that. =\ I have my books though. Nothing much else I guess. Now my right eye hurts. Seems to be irritated by something. Didn't get much sleep last night. Was very warm. Slept past 0230, woke at 0630. Had weird dreams.

I was outfield and it looked like It was some sort of TV program, then I was in it and we were in this field and some higher-ranking spec led us and we ran across the field. Apprently because we had forgotten to take something. Ran across the field, through some trees, then then we came across a road. o_O Climbed on an overhead bridge to cross, then POOF we were inside what looked like my bunk.

Then who should be inside but tak. o_O I think she was doing work, and there were some people around in civilian, maybe her friends. So I sat down and we talked for a bit because we haven't seen each other in a while. Then suddenly we had somehow gotten what we return for and everyone started moving to go back. I stood up, said goodbye, and...someone tapped me on my leg and I woke up. Maybe its the beer. Lol.

The past few days I haven't been blogging. Granted, I can now do so at any time of the day, but I don't because everyone else seems to be busy anyway and there seems to be no further point in blogging, so I hardly do so. Also, I am usually too tired by the end of the day to care. My Facebook has been really dead so I can officially declare I have no life. Ha-ha.

Which would be declaring to myself because my blog is stagnant. Double ha-ha. Oops the mess is closing, will continue later in bunk...
---
I'm back. Had 3 cans. Haven't drunk in a while. Miss the feeling. Haha. These few days have been alright, if tiring. I've pretty much lost most of my voice already, and my throat condition has progressed beyond the point of hurt and pretty much towards broken.

April 1st was fun because someone decided to pull a prank on the pioneers. Aof it was a very expertly laid one. :) today, as per normal, except we ordered food in to celebrate the end of one phase. After that we went to the mess. Played some air hockey and foosball and then sat around and talked. Tomorrow will be friday.