Monday, January 26, 2009

From Boys to Men.

"From boys to men", words that embraced the entrance to BMTC School 1. The image remains etched in my brain, the image of myself walking down the pathway to my second home - tekong.

Two weeks felt like one month. The transformation of a civillian to a combat-fit soldier.



I will never forget the mad rush before I enlisted, the few days I had before it was the end of freedom for myself. I had only 8days after I flew back from Italy to go out and the above collage depicted the final two days. A mad rush it was! I really miss my long hair. I would like to thank some of my ex-church friends for organising the NS farewell BBQ for clarence and myself. Appreciate it! Sorry about the misunderstandings though.



Before I could say "oh my gosh, my hair is gone", I was drafted off to an offshore island called Palau Tekong. 9th Jan was another mad rush for me. Half an hour before reporting time, I still hadn't bought my goggles and shampoo! I really panicked.

I was very shocked to see so many of my ex-church friends at the bus terminal and touched at the same time. I would really want to thank the group of my ex-church friends who made this scrapbook like thingy. It had like photos of my family and friends, so I won't miss them too badly or something. It's still in the cupboard back in camp.

I enlisted in the same time as clarence! My childhood close friend till now and we happened to be in the same platoon and his bunk is next door! It's so cute to see how we went primary school together, went church together and now go through our NS together.

Accompanying me in were my parents, michelle and jovena! I'm really quite thankful they came along if not I have felt quite lonely inside. Jovena's computer broke down or something so no photos from her camera. Wasted.

Soon, two weeks passed by and I came out with my botak head, smelling the stale mainland air. I would very much like to blog about what happened inside tekong but we're not allowed to blog about army stuffs. So yeah, I guess you would like to know you could ask me personally.



I'm really thankful to have friends like michelle and jovena! Thank you two for supporting me through the lowest moments of my life. If not for the phone calls and encouraging messages during the confinement period, I think would have felt discouraged and isolated! Once again, thanks! A collage here for you two. (:


Jove. Mich. JT.



Apart from meeting up with them, I met up with my lovely classmates and my VS classmates too, the day after book-out day. It's really nice to meet up with friends and catch up and all. Boring army talk and all. Haha.

Anyway, I've found my answers to my previous blog post. To those of you who are still wondering, yes I've to admit that NS is a very spiritually challenging place.

Back to tekong tomorrow! I have field camp from saturday to thursday, so I cannot be contacted at all via handphone/snail mail/whatever.

So long then! I'll blog my holiday photos every other book-out.

Posted at 7:07 PM 0 comments



Friday, January 09, 2009

Opps, looks like I had no time to update the photos. I guess I will post when I book out and if I have free time.

The past week was a blast. Rushing to meet up with so many friends and all!

So am I prepared for army? That's a very good question.

During A level period I was studying together with sam and wayne when this question came across my mind - "Will you kill a person when faced with such a situation during a war?" It suddenly became a very real thing, the fact that being enlisted means that should a war erupt, you'll most likely pick up a rifle and fight the war.

Killing someone has its implications. The other soldier that you might have killed most likely has a family of his own, killing him would make his wife a widow and his children fatherless. How cruel. He might be the enemy, but he's still a human. The reality of war is indeed very real in our time. It's a sad truth that everyone has to accept.

I would say that I can never be fully prepared to be enlisted, but what I can say is that national service is something very essential in the grooming of every man and for that I am willing to be enlisted. However, like most other people, there's a tinge of reluctance within me but it'll be for my own good I guess.

Alright then, let's see if my views have changed two weeks later. :)

Posted at 12:52 AM 0 comments



Thursday, January 01, 2009


This photo really describes 2008. So many gazillion things happened last year, both on a personal, regional and global level.

A new year doesn't feel like a new year. I felt neither the need to reflect on the past year nor the need to make resolutions. I didn't like 2008 and I'm not looking back. I'm sure 2009 will be better, but I'm saying it with a cautious tone.

Holiday was quite good and realised many things that might change my life. I will post up all the photos at one shot soon. I wasn't very happy with the photos I took and I felt I lost the passion and I'm off-form. Sadly. I hope I find back my inspiration soon.

Anyway, happy new year to you people!

Posted at 2:45 PM 0 comments