What have I done?

This blog has not being touched for quite some time... I have decided not to blog periodically, but to blog after I have finished every milestone.

Yesterday I just returned from a party organized by Dillon, my BMT friend, for his 21st birthday. We also celebrated our BMT 3 years anniversary at the same time. We went for shopping, had a few drinks and had fun for the night. 3 years... It is such a long time. It is the first time we have celebrated our annivesary as civilians. I believe that this will still continue for the subsequent years.



Most of us are studying in local universities. However, majority of them are studying in NUS, a few in NTU and only me in SMU! Most of the time, I have been asking myself... Why am I in SMU? What have I done in SMU? Would it be better if I have studied in the other universities?

Well, I do not think it is practical to think of this now. Since I have chosen this path, I should continue this journey. However, for the previous term, I have difficulties in adapting to the lifestyle. The schedule is so packed and there are tons of projects to be done. In addition, I also have to curb with other commitments like Chadian, CCAs, CIPs and such. Well.. although I have been complaining the stress, these are the activities that I want to do. In the end, I have admited to myself that I have over-committed myself. I have started to realize this when I have contacted dengue fever and had found a time to think of this. After that, I just told myself, just have fun and don't overwork yourselves.


The courses that I have taken this term is quite interesting:

1. Leadership and Team Building enables us to appreciate a team and arts of leadership better through a community involvement project. Doing earrings for community service has never occurred to me before. Although this is not a fantastic project we have done, it has helped us to understand team coordination better.
2. Communication enables us to speak and write better in the business context. Speaking in the public is my main obstacles to overcome. This course is a challenge to me and I have to work hard to overcome it.
3. Financial Accounting has influenced me to use Debit and Credit term to understand financial statement, as well as usage in daily life! (Crazy, Dr Mugging Time, Cr Useful Time) Most importantly, it can make our minds think how does business work.
4. ISM Seminars enable me to understand how IT and Business are related and what are some of the issues involved. However, the structure of the lesson benefits me the most because it has helped me wanting to speak up during lessons more.
5. IS Design Foundation has taught me Java Programming and how I can play around with it on top of my C++ Language. Design a game for it and have fun doing the course.

These courses are interesting and fun. However, I am unable to appreciate most of them. Just like for Financial Accounting, I can only appreciate it during the study break, which is quite late by then. I also involve in the running of Asoc Web Team.. My personal aim of taking up this task is to put my IT skills to good use and to help the Accounting Society to reach out to the student population. Well, I do not think I have done a very good job though. Signed up for run team but only went for a few sessions... I think it has something to do with my time management.

"You need to manage your time better. It is all about time management". Well, it is true to some sense and I have been struggling to find out how I am able to excel in it. Probably it is because I have overkilled myself for taking up 5 courses, but next term I am going to take up 6-7 courses. How am I able to cope with that? Well.. I guess I have to rely on my passion for the subjects and the determination to complete this journey. Although this would be tough, I believe I would emerge as a stronger person after that. Just like for the previous Standard Chartered Half Marathon. I have not trained for it and suffered along the way. But at least I have completed the race. 吃为苦中苦，方为人上人. Hang on there dude!

ASOC Camp+ SIS Family Day

Last friday, I went to sentosa for my ASOC camp...

0745
Reach Harbourfront MRT.. As usual, waiting for people.. Went to buy breadtalk with Marcus, group facilitator.. After almost all the people reached, take a coach to sentosa.

0900
Reach Palawan beach. Had another rd of intro, but still could not remember all the names, as usual. Play some lame games again like Gongfu Master and Tui Tui Tui game.. Quite funny.

1000
Start the first round of telematch.. As expected, get wet during the first game.. somemore is a forfeit. Nevermind, we will get back to them again! Played freesbie captain's ball, watermelon game in the water and e confusing flag game... Finally it is time for us to rest!

1300
Had our lunch. Good that the lunch is much much better than Circle Xperience. Then preparing our modified Fairytale.. Hansel and Gratel.. Was acting as Hansel, but as a timid and useless guy. But it is an easy one to act. After some rehearsal, went to play some water gun game and mascot thingy. Got first by somehow or rather and the weather is super super hot. Feel like going into the water again to cool ourselves.

1700
Acting for the competition. Never know that Sunplay is so good, so many advertisement inspirations. Anyway, the Dean and a few prof are there. So most people are well-behaved. But some of the scripts are simply R21.. Hai.. For our script, luckily we cap it at G only. Didn't win the competition, but had a great fun acting. After that had some dinner, played a very confusing battlefield game... Somehow, my team won e game by guessing the clues correctly. After that, we finally went back to our chalet at Costa Sand, tired and shag...

Saturday
0100
Very cooling after some bathing.. Shiok! Then we played Indian Poker... Never know that playing Indian Poker is so fun, especially with drinking water as forfeit.. Drink some soft drink first before we switch to plain water. Everyone is bloated after the game. Feel like tonning but the bed is simply too comfortable liao.. Fall asleep in the end...

0800
Hey! Should be waking up, why are you still in bed?? Hai.. The bed is simply too comfortable liao.. We ate our breakfast, and finished up the ice-cream that we left in fridge because of no spoons. Then we checked out the room and went to outside 7/11 for our next activities... 7/11 must be earning quite a lot of money from this camp!

0930
By right should join SIS Family Day... But think ASOC camp would be more fun.. So stay on.. Play some telematch game again, softball using toilet brush, dodgeball, some watergun thingy again and some obstacles course... We watched some fresibee competition between freshie and facil... Not much fun for us.. After that, we had our lunch and prepared for an amazing race in the afternoon.

1400
Had an amazing race... Did some lame stuff in sentosa.. Well, like duck walk across the road, act like a shark, find bikini with poker dots and guys wearing bikini on beach... Hai... Was a victim but nvm lah, too shack to think liao.. Anyway, quite lame but quite fun at the same time.. The foreigners must be wondering, what is wrong with Singaporeans!



1700
End of ASOC.... My group is the first loser! Cos there are only prizes for first and second, and we came in third!

1900
Went to SIS Camp for a while.. Just in time to catch the sand castle building competition and dinner. Get to know more stuff of SIS... As expected, the gender ratio is quite bias here compared to ASOC.. Anyway, the dinner was good and had a few talk with the prof.. But it ends quite fast actually and we sneaked off at about 9pm...

Had a tiring but fufilling weekend.

What do I want in life?

Honestly speaking, I really don't know what do I want in life? Is it that difficult to know what I want in life?

OCS MSN

By demand:

Pls add me if you are from Delta Platoon 3 so that I can add your MSN contact here...

Mine: stevenpeh@hotmail.com
Rude: crd_7@hotmail.com
Willy Chang: larceniciel121@hotmail.com
Jiaxing: lee_jia_xing@hotmail.com
Willy Lim: limwilly@singnet.com.sg
Joel: netryder@hotmail.com
Boon: tbyphs11@yahoo.com.sg
Vince: vince_liew@hotmail.com
Jared: bytheblood@hotmail.com
Jerald: chillbone@hotmail.com
Dinesh: cjnesh@hotmail.com
Weifa: cyclops_84@hotmail.com
Sufian: goflyfly@hotmail.com
Joseph: josephyeo84@hotmail.com
Mingguan: miggylim@hotmail.com
Jason: waikikiblues@hotmail.com
Zong Neng: zntan84@hotmail.com
Kevin Kok: relag_xavier@hotmail.com
Kia Haw: kiahaww@hotmail.com

Service-Learning

I have attended a service learning workshop today. This is another program that I have signed up with Touch Youth Services besides the Crush Program. The workshop is very enriching and inspiring, hence I find an urge to write in the blog. Probably I would split it into 2 parts. First part is the activity and the second is my thought.

In the beginning, we were playing an introductory activity: "Have you ever...?" It is an interactive activity, formed seating in a circle. Everybody would have a chance to ask "Have you ever (some experience)?" and if anyone ever have this experience, he will move to his right and sit on it, even if there is a person siting on the chair. The activity ends when anyone returned to his seat. We get to know one another better in this activity.

After that, we get to know what is Service-Learning and realised how powerful it is compared to other community service projects. Through service and learning at the same time, we are able to internalise the experience and move forward with a better understanding of what we can learn from the service and what can be done to improve the service. A productive cycle afterall!
Shortly after that, we played another game: "Human Traffic Jam". It was an activity in which we were seated in 2 rows with an empty chair. We were supposed to move to the other side using the empty chair with these rules (1. Can only move forward 2. Can shift 1 seat forward if it is empty 3. Can jump over to the alternate seat if there is a person from the opposite row seatng in front of you). We came up with some methods and slowly able to generalise the method to play the game. We got a challenge further that we are not allowed to speak. We consolidated our thoughts again but we are still unable to complete it after a few tries. Through this, we drew up a few learning points from this Experimental Learning.

We were taught a few theories after that such as 6 Generations of facilitation, 3 key components of a S-L project and 7 Competencies of a facilitator. Well, although this part of the lesson is quite dry and technical, it is very useful for us.

Following this, we had an inspiring game: "Pace of Life (Or similar to it)". To me, this is the most enriching game. We were told to walk around in circle, and in the midst of it, "outcasts" would be selected and be told to leave the room. The rest of us have to continue walking in this circle. It is very tiring and the activity stopped after about half of the people were outcasts and we were told to share our feelings.

Throughout the day, the trainers were willing to share their experience with us and we found them very inspiring. At the end of the day, we consolidated our learning for the day and called it a day.


"Have you ever...?"

An activity to share our experience. Well, usually I don't like Ice-braking game but this activity is quite subtle. We need to come up with an unique experience so that only the person would move and return to the seat earlier. Well, according to the trainer, it is a game to test our energy level and boundary (whether we dare to sit on ppl lap).. Hmm, it could be, but it was quite subtle for me.

What is Service-Learning

Through this, we get to know what is so unique about S-L. It is not so much of community service and it has a larger benefit to the volunteers and the society at large. I view it as a productive cycle instead of a weighing scale (because of the equal emphasis). For instance, we do a community service and consolidate the learning from it. And through the learning, we will perform better community service to the public and at the same time, we learn some useful skills in the process. This is the power of S-L that I perceive and it is based on Experimental Learning, which is more interactive for people to establish the learning.

"Human Traffic Jam"

It is an inspiring activity in which we discover for ourselves a method to solve a problem. In the process, we refine it further so that we can do it better. It is very much like the WIT course I have attended but I found that it was more meaningful, in the sense that we discovered for ourselves whether "have we learnt it now?" whereas WIT is more of how to improve the process. Well, we understand what is Experimental Learning from this activity and one major takeaway is that we must make sure everyone in the group must know what is going on!
Pace of Life Wow! This is a very powerful philosophical activity! Most of us were "traumatised" by it and we really reflected on what we were doing and how we actually felt now. It is built on the basis of "Framing the experience" in which it forms an analogy to the pace of the society now. Most often then not, we would neglect all the "outcasts" and continue on our pace aimlessly, in a circle. Some of us might worry for the "outcasts" but usually, for our survival instinct (Safety as they called it), we would continue our pace. On the other hand, the "outcasts" wanted to join in the society pace and couldn't do so because they would be "out of the frequency". Some of them were chosen randomly and they did not want it either.

After this activity, the trainer has asked us some questions. "Is there anybody that you have left out in your life?" "What are we going to do next?" Well... surely there are people whom we would leave out in our life without ourselves knowing. However, we would like to help sometime but we were struggling ourselves. At the same time, we would be wondering why were we following the pace of the society so aimlessly... After the session, I still couldn't find an answer to it. But at least I understand it now and am aware it. yes... Understand because people told me before about the rat race but this activity helped me visualise it vividly.

After each activity, we were brought in the concept of S-L so that we would understand it better. After attending the course for a day, I am inspired of the whole framework of Service-Learning. I wouldn't say that I understand it totally but I find that I have already gained a lot of it in a day. Looking forward to the workshop tommorrow!

Circle Xperience I

This is a 3 days 2 night camp for SMU freshman. Well, it is very similar to OBS and leadership field camp in army...

Tuesday:
I went to SMU (Bukit Timah) for gathering and we took a coach to Chinese Garden. Well, it was raining heavily on our way there. We were alighted under a shelter and we carried on our activities there. Of course, the infamous ice-breaking game... We played some games like Polar Bear and hence we came up our group name after that as "Guru". This carried on till we had our lunch. By the way, the lunch sux!

After that, we went for our water activities. Dragon boating, building a rope bridge, and kayaking.. At first, I did not know how to dragon boat and after some time, finally get a hand out of it. It was quite fun during kayaking when our group led the rest very far. But unfortunately, it rained and the activities stopped. We had our dinner after that and this time round, the dinner is slightly better, but still worse than SFI food.

We had a night walk after that which is not very impressive either. It is basic navigation and many facilitators want to come and scare us. However, they are not scary at all. Fortunately, we finished the course fast and got to bath first. After that we played some lame games like who is the murderer before we lights off.. However, not many people fell asleep...

Wednesday
In the morning, it rained again and we did not go for jogging as per planned. We had our breakfast (Not that impressive either) and went for some amazing race game. These games built up our team spirits and coordination. After lunch, we went for a navigation tour again and this time round, we navigate our of chinese garden to CDANS. The trip was quite fun and our group was closer after the trip. We had a night cooking session after that but we just wanted to keep our stomach full and did not bother about the competition.. Anyway, we watched the show performed by our facilitators, bathed after that and had a long talk at our tents before we slept. We slept out of the tents because it was pretty warm inside. Anyway, we got to know one another better during the conversation

Thursday
We woke up to eat our breakfast and got to play games again. This time round, we played games similar to OBS, especially those rope games. They were quite fun but it was just that we did not have enough time to play only. We packed up our stuff at about 4pm and played our finale game, human charade where we played water bomb game. This marked the end of the camp but Guru is planning to have a supper together again...!

eMentoring Program

Just recently, I signed up a Community Involvement Program (CIP) called the Crush Program. It is a program to guide the youth what are the possible dangers online.

It is a very meaningful project and for the last 2 days, we are discussing on how the youth would be affected online by bad influence including pornography, online gaming and also strangers. I did learn a lot from the program and now we are put in a forum to interact with the youth who signed up for the program. I believe this is a very good interaction with them...

Initial D

Watched the movie yesterday. The watch is very nice and is a must watch for everyone. Now, because of being captivated by the movie, I am downloading the anime to watch. If you haven't watched the show, I recommend that you watch it now.

Assets/Liabilities

Yesterday had a discussion with a friend.. We were discussing how does a relationship consider an asset or a liability. He was saying that if the other partner was behaving maturely, then he/she would be an asset, else liability.

However, I believe it is not true. Although we can say a personality can determine someone is an asset or liability (EQ), we cannot say that it is correlated in relationship(sounds like statistics). A boy may like another girl because she is innocent and he still treats her as his asset.

Perhap we shouldn't mix up relationship with economics term because one concerns emotional thinking and one concerns logical thinking. However, if you are attached now, do you consider your partner as an asset to you or a liability to you? If he/she is a liability to you, would you still like him/her? If you are still single now, having a relationship would be an asset to you, or would it be a liability to you?

Choices and Decisions

Choices and decisions... Why do we have to face choices and decisions all the time? In one day, we can face a lot of choices and make a lot of decisions based on these choices.

What am I going to be in the future?

What should I do today?

What course should I study?

Sometime, the choice is limited and is beyond our control. But in most of the cases, we do like many choices, but is that really good for us? What would happen if we made the wrong decision? I believe that there are not absolute right or wrong decision. If we made the wrong decision, it is the path that we have chosen and we should not regret. Who knows, it may not be that bad after all.

ORD LOH!

After the day, 9 Apr 2005, I finally got back something that was lost to me 2 years ago and now my wallet was getting a little bit heavier. I finally got back my pink IC! Well, I was very happy that I had already completed another phase of my life and I would be waiting for university study!

During this period of time, I was desperately looking for jobs, because I was JOBLESS! I was contributing to the jobless population in the MOM statistics! Hai.. Mainly, I need to work to fund myself. But luckily, with the help of JobsDB and some job agency, I got a few jobs. I did not put the names because I did not want to get myself into lawsuits. However, some of you may know which companies they are:

1. Chocolate Factory (2weeks)
   The job is a bit monotonous. Imagin you sit there just to separate contaminated white chocolate from those good one. Well, this was the first job that I did and luckily I had my companion Peter with me, or else life would be very miserable.
   
   Lesson Learnt: Just do a quick inspection and quickly move to the next batch...
   
2. Financial Agency (2weeks)
   The staff here were very friendly and helpful. Mainly, we went through transactions of sales based in other countries and did some sort of auditing stuff. Learn a great deal of accounting stuff here, which might be useful for my future studies. Who knows...
   
   Lesson Learnt: Look at the requirements and signatures. Reject those anyhow sent in one.
   
3. IT Helpdesk (2 months)
   Well... Those who were always with me, will always hear me grumble about this job.. WAH! "ORD" Loh... Haha, actually I learnt quite a great deal from this job. From how an ISP works to how to handle customers' queries and complaints. Phew.. I had a few days trainings and went to answer the calls. There were really many different types of customers and sometime I really liked to laugh, but couldn't to.
   
   "Why I signed up for unlimited plan and now I was disconnected...?"
   
   "Can you do a direct connection for me? Connect the modem directly to the phone jet... Hello, are you there...?" Call drops...
   
   "How come I cannot log on to those pornography website?"
   "You are on a filtering service..."
   "I do not need it. There are no children in my house. How do I unsubscribe?"
   "You can call sales..."
   "I cannot do it now huh...Then how do I do my research??"
   "..."
   
   These were just some examples only and I belived those seniors one would know more. Well, for those who want to connect to Internet, please buy a pc/laptop/modem/router that you know best. Also, if your connection is slow, do spyware/virus scan.
   
   Lesson Learnt: Customer is NOT always right but they cannot be blamed for their ignorance.

I took on a few language lessons also.. Like Malay and Japanese... However, until now, I only know how to speak a little... Selamat Malam, Hajime Mashite, Sumimasen, Tungu Tungu... Now still can remember a bit. If you know any of these languages, practise with me!

This is basically how I spent my time up to now. I learnt quite a lot, some from my jobs, some from my course, some from my buddy Man Chun (Thank for all your tips man!). Finally it is back to schooling time... School, Long time no see man!

Manpower without manpower!

Actually, manpower job was quite a "saikang" one. Most of the jobs like discipline, WIT, ICT, Pay, Promotion... All under manpower. Coming to the "brigade" office, my upperstudy Clement said, "Welcome to the manpower family." I did not know what it meant but slowly I realised that manpower job requires lots of patience, passion and enthusiasm.

I slowly took over the jobs as SOMP (Staff Officer Manpower) and realised that there were a lot of things that I needed to learn. From maintaining daily operation of the "brigade" to how to charge a person, all these directives we must know and they are always changing. However, I slowly learnt that oneself alone could not handle so much tasks and the only way to resolve this is to rely on the fellow men around you.

I treated all my men as my friends to the point that they requested me to be more harsh on them. Well, I believed that we should work as a team and I was only there to guide them along. After all, we were also NSFs, what for to tekan them? Hence, I adopted an open policy in the office. Fortunately, this was accordance to my boss's family policy for the office and everything went quite smoothly between us. However, occassionally, there would be some disputes and politics in the office, but fortunately we were able to overcome them with the policy.

Handling NSmen was also not an easy task and required some techniques. As they were older than me and should have more experience than me, I had to respect them. Indeed, I have learnt a lot from them, especially on the current situation in the society. One reason that I have changed my university course eventually was because of their advices. However, sometime we had to reason with them like for the common case IPPT, we need to reason with them with a strong point. By the way, IPPT/RT defaulters were big headaches for manpower jobs, all the NSmen please take your IPPT on time.

1 year of administrative training as manpower officer had prepared me very well for outside world. I got to learn a lot of human resource management, as well as handling those irritating office politics, especially those super big Tai Ji and Arrows. Well, it was really a relief when my understudy, Wenkai, came to take over me. However, I still told my guys, to look for me for gathering or if they have any problems. Anyway, we were comrades in the army afterall.

Why trainers didn't ensure...

I was posted to a reservist camp with Boon, Mao and Mingdao. Subsequently, I was appointed as a trainer and learnt how to handle reservist training. The job was quite fun initially but slowly, I found that the jobscope was quite blurred. Fortunately, I had my upperstudy Rahman and Kenneth to guide me along, through IPPT, Live Firing and Ranges.. I got to know my new buddy, Man Chun, and together with Boon and Mao, we were called the legendary Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle again. Wah!

However, after 3 months, I was told that they required a manpower officer and wished to post me there (I think more like an order). Initially, I was quite reluctant because I had adapted quite well already but after much thoughts, I accepted the job because I wanted to learn more new things.

After I had moved over to the "Brigade" as manpower officer, I still kept in contact with the fellow trainers. I stayed in with them, went out at night, to play arcades and to watch movies. They were a fun group of brothers.

Reservist training gave me an insight of how we would be going through during our NS few years later down the road. Looking at them made me more determined to keep myself fit for future training. Actually, unlike what they were saying, trainers' job was very tough. As a trainer once, I still could remember how busy we were and sometime still got blur from our roles and responsibilities. From the look, we were only assisting the NS officers to train the men but actually, there were more to it. One thing that I learnt, and one which I hated most was,

"WHY TRAINERS DIDN'T ENSURE?!!"

OCS: Commissioning Ball

A few days after our commissioning, we had our commissioning ball. It would be our last "official" gathering. We brought our dates for the dinner, took a few pictures, laughed and played about and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. However, I was still quite sad that night because all my brothers would be posted to other units.

Good bye...

Take care...

Good luck...

See ya next time...

All these farewell seems very common but they were very meaningful.

This officially marked the end of the story of Delta Platoon 3... But I was glad that I was still able to see some of them during our work on this small organisation... Farewell guys!

To kw, thank for being my date and hope you enjoy yourself that night!

OCS: To Lead, To Excel & To Overcome

We were basically waiting for the Commissioning Parade after JCC. There were some significant activities like ATP, SEOC but the one that we were really looking forward were ACPC (To get our precious sword) and Commissioning Parade. I passed my SEOC, went through ACPC and the 2 weeks of "Sufferings" on the holy Parade Square, when we were practising with our rifles and running round the parade squares to train up our physique for our parade.

On the fateful day, 28/01/2004, after we were praying for the rain to stop rainning, we were finally standing on the parade square, proud and smart. All the training had paid off and our efforts were recognised. The President was there to witness our commissioning and our parents and friends were cheering for us at the audience seats. It was even more touching to see them put on our Lieutenent Rank for us even when it was raining at the end of the parade. It was not a day to forget.

Life began to change after that day for all of us. Suddenly OCS seems to be a smaller place for us to "walk" around. I emphasize on "walk" because usually we did not have such luxury as OCT (Officer Cadets). 9 months of training symbolises the birth of becoming an officer. Wearing the rank did give us more authority and freedom, but it came with great deal of responsibilities and challenges as well. Becoming an officer is easy but to be a good one is not that simple. Sometime, you may hear stories of officers misusing their ranks but most of the time, you would hear how officers perform to uphold the spirit of OCS - "To Lead, To Excel & To Overcome".

OCS: Oversea Venture II

JCC - Also known as Jungle Confidence Course, is a pride of Infantry Officers. Just like commandos have their rangers and airborne courses, we have to go through this confidence course in Brunei. Well... if you heard any soldiers talking about JCC, you would hear it with pride and honour, of how they went through the sufferings and hungers in the jungle. That is true. Firstly, we needed to go through a navigation test. After that, we had to survive in the jungle for 5 days and accomplished the tasks required. Last but not least, we were helivac to some ulu place and we had to find some checkpoints and got out of the jungle and crossed the famous Sungei Apoi to finish the course.

The first navigation was quite a brisk as we searched the checkpoints. The rule of thumb was to climb to the highest point as possible to navigate (also known as the ridgeline) because there were where the vegetation was the most scarce. I still could remember how nice the hammock was and how I enjoyed making the fire at night to keep myself warm. Sorry Boon for nearly burning you as a roasted pig. All of us were able to pass this test.

Next test was our famous survival test. We were dropped at different locations. My site was quite fine but some of the others were allocated a swampy place. The challenge was that we needed to make a shelter, a fireplace and some other survival structures and tools. It was really a challenge and unforgettable experience for most of us.

Day 1:
Very enthusiatic in building the shelter. Without the shelter, I would have no place to sleep. But I was still too late, it started to rain at 4pm and the sky got darker and became totally darkness by 6pm. The rain still continued and I had to hide under a small pathetic tree to seek shelter first. It was too cold for me.

Day 2:
I am determined to finish the shelter and finally finished building it. Then I began to start on other structures like fireplace. I thought the shelter was good for me already but when it was put to the punctual rain test at about 4pm again, I had to hide in whatever shelter I had in my pathetic A-Frame. It was really a pathetic feeling. At night, while it was raining, I tried to do my small equipment like spoon and fork. All these equipment do have some points to earn.

Day 3:
I got extremely hungry today. For the past few days, I still can endure but today, I am totally lethargic. I prepare most of my stuff and ready for inspection. I got some rice, a chicken wing and some fungus for my effort. I eat a little of many things and stored a little chicken wing for my traps.

Day 4:
Today is a low morale day. I have little energy and I only accomplished a little work only. I anyhow set up my traps and did my stuff. Then I rested at about 3pm and started to think of things. Of why am I here, what are we going to do, what has happened back at home... It was an emotional moment for me. Slowly, I fell asleep and luckily, it was the only night that didn't rain. Probably, the god was graceful to me that night.

Day 5:
The day when we were evacuated out and sent to our last navigation test. We congratulated one another for passing the previous test. But I was still astonished how the iguana was able to eat my chicken wing by passing through my trap.

We were high morale when we were able to taste the icy cold milo. After that, we were all distributed out to our various starting points to start our journey. We were all determined to succeed, to climb the Mt Biang and to taste the Apoi River.

We never knew that the river shown on the map meandered so much on the ground. A few cm shown on the map may take us a few km to travel. By right we were heading north, but we were actually moving to the south by following the river. The vegetation was also too dense to bash in. What a difficult terrain to navigate in.

Some of us were able to make it within the 5 days but not all were fortunate to do so. Some were standing proud when receiving the JCC badge but some were feeling sad for not able to pass the course. However, all of us lost a great deal of weight (I lost 7-8kg). We had an additional exercise and returned to singapore a few days later. I did not really want to mention of the R&R and those with me should know why. Anyway, for those who got the badge, congratulation. For those who did not, at least we went through it and had this unforgettable experience together.

JCC was an unforgettable experience. Like what my BMTC PC said before, JCC was something that I like to experience once but never want to go through it again. I still had some JCC sickness after returning back in singapore. I always complained to Rude, "Wah! All the trees in OCS are suitable for making A-Frame leh!"

OCS: Overseas Venture I

I did not know that I can venture this far.. All the training in Tekong, E-Shaped, Pajaur and now finally in oversea training... That was truly an eye opener and indeed an unforgettable experience. (This should be confidential and I will keep it to the minimum)

ROC - This is the oversea training I have enjoyed the most. It was near the typhoon season and the place was very windy... I still could remember some of the clothes that we hanged outside got blown away. The training was very enjoyable... High ground, training, navigation, "Highway" Runner, the seductive ninja vans and much much more. Completing the navigation in this place was a huge achievement and it seemed like Journey to the West whereby we looked and asked around to go to our checkpoints with our loads. All the villagers looked at us in awe and as if we came from Planet Mars. I enjoyed the scenery a lot too. We became fighting zombies during our last exercise Homerun where we went through several consecutive missions and we fought through our way in Finale Exercise.

The R&R is the best reward for us after the exercise as we toured around the country for 1 week. We went to the night markets, like Si Lin Night Market, Xi Men Ding and many other tourist attractions. I have never enjoyed my army days so much. But we know that we have a greater challenge ahead.... JCC.

OCS: To excel through "arrogance"

The training still carried on in the Professional Term. After some reshuffling, I was buddied with Rude (Not rude). He is a very nice guy who is a pure vegetarian. Probably he eats vegetable, he is very tall. After 3 weeks, I was finally told to retake my SOC. I was very scared at that point in time.

Rude told me that I should be more "arrogant" so that I can pass the test. I was very ambivalent but I did give it a try. At first, I told myself that I would pass the test only and when I was more bold, I told everyone in the platoon that I would pass the test! Somehow on the test date, I was able to pass the test! What a miracle! Hence, part of the reason why I can become an officer is due to my good buddy.

After this incident, I had another challenge again. This time round, I had to get a silver for my IPPT or else I would be given a CROW (warning letter). 2 CROWs and I would be OOC also. This was a warning that my PC set for me. However, I decided to use the previous tactics again, to be "arrogant". I told my PC that I would get a silver for the IPPT and pass the SEOC test (A final test for infantry officer).

After much training and effort, and much arrogance (should be assertiveness I think), I finally get a silver for my IPPT. I could get a gold if not of my running but I was quite satisfied already. Hence, arrogance(or PRIDE) did help me a lot in OCS. After this, my next obstacle is not SEOC but my adventure in ROC and JCC... This is the most enjoyable period in my OCS life!

(To be continued...)

OCS: A struggle towards excellence

I got the posting 1 week after my POP. I was quite surprised that I was chosen to enter OCS. Then a few days later, I reported to SAFTI MI OCS, which was on the opposite side of Tekong. I could still remember how sad we felt when we boarded the fast craft to Tekong, now the sadness was no longer there...

When I reported to OCS, I was surprised and excited to see Baolai was in the same platoon same section as me. What a coincidence! However, after one month, he signed on a contract in RSAF and left my platoon.

After that, I also got to know that Kia Haw was joining us as well. Kia Haw studied in AMKSS and AJC as well, but we were never in the same class before. We got to know each other as we went to school very early everyday. I was very fortunate to have him as my comrade during my national service.

As I was not very physically inclined, I struggled through all the physical activities such as IPPT, endurance run and SOC. I would usually be the last few who completed the course. Fortunately, I did have many brothers to support me and encourage me on. We went through many field camps, training, assault on Bajar for 7 times and of course our favourite 5mins drill. We laughed together, suffered together, cried together. Everyone in the platoon was indeed outstanding and bright.. However, looking at my state of patheticness, I was wondering how come I am in OCS with them sometime...

Time passed very fast in the midst of all the training. Finally, it was the end of Service Term 2. Initially, I was being posted to Logistics to train as logistics officer. However, I was not posted there because I did not pass my SOC test. I still could remember that how demoralised I was when I failed the last test in ST2. Fortunately, Jason, one of my brothers, encouraged me on. In the end, I was given a condition pass and had to retake and pass my SOC within a month, or else I will be declared OOC (Out of Course)....

(To be continued...)

Pegasus 2

Actually, I was feeling very sad when I was enlisted. I knew that it was a common phase that all male Singaporeans had to undergo but for me, I was enlisted within less than 2 weeks after my GCE 'A' Level... No time to enjoy at all!!! WAHH!!!

However, I do not regret now. I was with a bunch of fun and reliable comrades who endured the training and tekaning during BMT. It was Pegasus PL2. We celebrated our Christmas, New Year and even Chinese New Year together. As our batch is PTP, our training was more physical and tough. However, our bond was built up in the midst of these training.

I was still skeptical on our horrifying experience during BMT. Remember that we were having a scaring week when we experienced all sorts of nonsense such as having the same dreams, shoutings at night, unknown recruit walking pass our Section 3 bunk, and the unknown hello kitty towel that dropped onto our laundry line. I was almost terrified when I saw a child, sitting under a tree, in his ancient chinese costume during our SIT test. Phew... It was finally over..

One thing that I remembered very vividly is that we always had feasts inside our bunk, especially our Section 3. The food would be snatched up within 3 minutes (from our record). I still could remember that we smuggled food to camp on our last book-in and we excluded other section ppl from coming in... Haha! That's section integrity man!

During our POP (Passing Out Parade), while the VIP was giving his talk, memory of the training kept flowing to me... All the training, all the scolding, how we rushed to the toilets whenever there was water parades, grenade throwing, IPPT, SOC, BAC..... Wow, I couldn't believe that we have accomplished so much during this 16weeks of training.

I was very proud, very proud to be with Pegasus, with Platoon 2. Thank for all your help and cooperation all this while and for reporting to me when you were sick. Good luck to those who are going for oversea studies. Keep in touch!

安初华会

Hmm.. I really do not know how to start this blog.. There are basically too many things to talk about.. Well, I should say that it is the activity that I spent most of my time on during JC. The schedule is quite busy and every month there are activities. From January onwards, CCA orientation, Chinese New Year celebration, 2nd CCA orientation, School Play, Competition....

I was the VP of the club but I also did not know why I was selected also. Probably because of 阴盛阳衰... But I did enjoy the activities that we all went through.. Going through the rehearsals of our annual 安域情韵, making mooncakes for sales to fund our mooncake festival, going through the creative drama camp, thinking of ways to attract new people from joining the CCA, preparation for Chinese New Year Celebration, doing committee service in AWWA, 小品比赛, CLDDS Camp as our final finale...

We went through thick and thin together, laugh and cry together, playing the politics with the teachers and maintaining the CCA... The most enjoyable part for me is to make the mooncakes for sales, that was the first time that I made mooncakes and I believed it was a great achievement for us. Also, for the guys, remember our last night in the camp to continue the story of Para Para and stuff? I believe it should leave us a good memory then...

However, frankly speaking, I do not consider me as a good VP at that time. Most of the things did not happen as plans and I believe I have a great responsibility for that. Fortunately, my committee was quite strong with Stella as the President, Tracy, Kaiwen, Meiqi, Chon Wai and the others in the committee to get the things going... Thank for all your help!

After 'A' Level, I have entered the army like the other guys. Henceforth, I was "missing" for about a year but most of us are still in contact and sometimes get together to put up performances. We are going to put up another coming soon. I believe this circle of friendship will still carry on forever... 华会万岁!!!

Non Mihi Solum

Finally, we were all upgraded to another types of species or changed into another occupations. For me, I have upgraded myself to a SMRT staff with some of the other ninja turtles. Haha, just kidding...

Well, quite a number of us have entered Anderson JC. Some of us were Baolai, Peter, Derrick, Peixuan, Meiqi...etc. However, I was in a different class with them. I have chosen a combination with computing science and was studying in an international class. We had mostly ASEAN scholars in this class and they came from India, Vietnam, Malaysia, China.

I was very proud to be in this class, 26/01, because I felt that it was very special. I learnt a great deal of how was the lifestyle from the other countries and how they were experiencing in studying in Singapore. On top of that, we were so called the IT-Savvy PDG (class) whereby we engaged projects and activities actively using IT. We were involved in the NTU-JC-SGH Challenge whereby we came up with the watch with the life-science students.

Most of us took up Computer Engineering or IT-related degrees in university after this. Currently, I still met up with Yong Tai, Huan Jin and Luke to IT exhibitions, IT shows and PC shows, or Simlim regularly. I believed this has become a culture for all of us..

I have joined CLDDS again in AJC. Well, it was a totally different experience altogether and I went through a great deal with the members, especially the "Yang Men Nu Jiang - Females Warriors of the 'Yang' Family'". I will write up another blog on this...

Well, in AJC, I have met many other friends as well. In many occassions, we usually knew one another through friends' friends' friends' friends'.... friend.... I believe it is the "Non Mihi Solum" (Not for me alone) spirit that brought us closer together...

4/4 Integrity

This is my upper secondary class, 4/4.. Well, a lot of teachers had given my class a great deal of pressure, which I couldn't know why. Even our form teacher Mdm Teng felt that we must not always concentrate on studying and must do other more meaning activities like charities and sports. But to me, it was a class like any other class, like to study hard and play hard at the same time.

Well, truthfully, the class is very competitive in academic work. It is not uncommon to see people studying very hard even during recess time. However, sometime is very funny as well. There would be laughters, jokes, rumours, quarrels, and criticism everywhere. Still can remember how Derrick had brought us lots of laughter and how Huixin began quarrelling with the others and ended up as a water tap... All these incidents brought us closer as an united class and we have shown it during many events such as the funfare and the "float" competition where we built up the Merlion... Thank Derrick for the Merlion man!

We shifted to Hougang in Secondary 4 and I still could remember we helped to shift most of the equipment there. Also, we got yourselves involved in many charities activities such as the selling of cookies, friendship pens and bands (still remember how to do now), and also tutoring of our juniors.. All these memories are indeed unmemorable.

I am glad that most of us have scored well during GCE 'O' Level. We entered our junior college and polytechnic and purused our dreams further... I am sure that we would still remember what Integrity encompass and also don't forget our counterpart values: Compassion, Harmony and..Oh no, forget what is it already the other one. But please don't forget our "Alma Mater Dear..."

2/4 spirits

2/4 spirits... I could say that it is a very unique class.. Probably because a young female teacher, Ms Lock, was our form teacher, that's why we were having such funs in this class.

I still could remember that we had a wide ranges of activities in this class, on top of 10 subjects that we were struggling with. From playing soccer before the school started to the creating forum and voting polls online, we were motivated to do things as a class. This class gave me a sense of belonging, a warmth feeling and a sense of pride.

There were many funny things that we engaged in... I still could remember the boys liked to target and chase after another guy to "pop" him. Also, we had a long story continuation which started off when some of us like to submit their LONG essays to Ms Lock... We engaged in the Big Walk, going to chalets whenever we have the chance, and to crowd around the MacDonald that was behind the school everytime after a game of basketball at the AMK CC. The class also liked to suan one another, regardless of gender and made a lot of noise in the class. Sometime, even the teachers could not stand us.

Most of us are still in contact now. Thank to Wee San that we almost have a chalet every year end for a good gathering. However, I have been searching for some of the other contacts that are lost. If you happens to be one of them, please email me so that I can add you in my MSN and other contacts as well.

Although we were studying for only 2 years together, some for 4 years with me, the bonds that we built have last till now.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle....

Frankly speaking, the secondary school that I was in was not the first choice after my PSLE.. However, I did not mind to go to AMKSS(Ang Mo Kio Sec Sch) because 2 of my brothers had studied in this school before...

At first, I was quite shocked that I would be wearing the green colour uniform for the 4 years in secondary school. My brothers did tease me that I looked like a Ninja Turtle. On top of this, I felt that secondary school life was totally different from primary school life for me. Everything was so rush and more emphasis was put on academic and ECA results. I still could remember that I was shocked that I needed to study for the common tests. I did not study for my first History test and I was frightened when I saw how difficult the questions were. Eventually, I flunged the test. In addition, there were so many tests every few weeks and needed to plan my schedule to study for the tests.

I joined my CCA as NPCC (National Police Cadet Corp) and Chinese LDDS (中文学会 ). Coincidentally, my brothers had chosen these CCAs before and it seems that I was following their footpaths. By the way, my brothers were many years older than me and I was still able to see their names and photos in some of the old photograph books. I had chosen these combinations because I wanted to train up my physical fitness and I was also interested in learning more of the chinese culture.

I have made many friends in the schools and are still in contact even up to today. My class was the fourth class throughout my secondary life (i.e. 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4). Basically, my life in secondary school can be splitted into lower sec (2/4) and upper sec (4/4). I would write a separate blog for each of them after this...

When I was just a little boy....

I still can vividly remember when I was just a small little kid, running around and playing with my brothers. As I was the youngest child in the family, my parents and my brothers dote on me the most. We were quite poor back then but we were living together happily.

I still can remember how nervous I was when I first stepped into the school. It was a school that my father and all my brothers studied in before. The buildings were a little old and recently, it is announced that it will be combined with another school in the neighbourhood. My father was quite sad of the merging because he held a strong relationship with the school ever since he was a primary school kid like me. He studied in the school and started working after graduation but he eventually came back to this primary school as a school bus driver.

I was brought to school everyday by my father with the other school children that he had received. Hence, I did not need to worry about my transportation. During recess time everyday, I would eat the bread that my mother put in my lunch box everyday and buy a bottle of yakult using the 50cents coin that she gave me. I was very shy at the beginning and refused to talk to any one in the class. However, as time goes by, I got to know of the other school kids and started talking and playing with them... Unfortunately, I do not get in touch with most of them now after I have graduated from the primary school...

During this period of time, I was living in a happy go lucky mood. It was during this period of time that I felt the most carefree and were enjoying myself the most. In addition, the standard of living in my family has improved great deal during this period of time. However, I had always hoped to grow up faster so that I can do many things that my brothers are able to... like staying out late and going for chalets etc... Indeed, before I knew it, I had taken the PSLE and entered my secondary school...

Beginning my journey...

I suddenly have the urge to set up a blog page for myself...

I am not sure why do I want to do it also. The only reason that I can think of as of now is that I want to start recording what I have been doing for these years and start to reflect on the things I have done for myself... Time has passed so fast that I cannot keep track of it as well. A short note of each day might make my life seems clearer...

Hmm... Going to university in coming August. Hopefully I am able to record for my past doings before I embark on my another journey...