Then... Till now...

First thing, I really think I need a new blog skin, I'll look for one only after I'm fully done with this post.

Wow... Its now 2013, almost 3 years since my last blog post. I must say, skimming through my older posts.... brings back a lot memories - some of which are about one of the happiest time of my life, others... yet another learning journey. I would say, after all these years, I don't feel like I have accomplished much, but I definately learnt several life lessons.

In the time between then and NS, I took part time job at the Singapore Zoo, started on December 2010 all the way till Aug 2011, a bit long for a part time job, but the work schedule is really flexible, the people you work with are nice people, decent pay, nice customers and even Elephants show twice a day! But naturally, there are times that things goes awry. I remember falling awhile I was transporting the day's goods to my workstation, got a small wound but didn't give much thought about it... Afterall, these usually heal without incident right? Not that particular time... I got a rather bad bacterial infection, and because I had chicken pox when I was young, the dormant virus activated and caused Herpes Zoster. Pretty nasty, but at least it wasn't as bad as my condition when I was 14.

PTP Phase of National Service

Moving on, while my NS life wasn't smooth, with a lot of issues, coupled with my condition, there really are things I need to adept to, not very well might I add. In my 4 months of PTP + BMT, there's many challenges in which we partake, accomplishing them really gives one a sense of satisfaction. PTP is a phase where we all build up our fitness to prepare for BMT. Our typical routine is to eat, cadence run, PT/drills, eat, PT, eat rounds.. But our instructors find ways to make it more interesting for us. Instead of just lunging, tuck jumps and what not at X counts of 4, they made circuits in which our batch was split into 2 teams, and made it into a mini tournament. The losing team will usually have more PT as a form of  'forfeit' but our instructors will always do it with us, motivating us and urging us to press on. Our PTP was concluded with a 7KM Cadence Run at East Coast Park. The route we took for the run was 3.5KM forward, followed by a rest point, where we will drink a cup of water before heading back to the starting point. On that day itself, we were all in high spirits rearing to go. We quickly assembled for the safety briefing, drank up, warmed up and got into position. 2 of our officers led the run while the rest of the instructors and our OC ran alongside us. The first half was relatively easy. Reached the rest point feeling okay but after that 3 minutes break, I found that it was rather difficult to get back into the rhythm. I was almost ready to give up just before reaching the finishing line, but it was thought of if they could do it, so could I that kept me going. I really felt good finishing the entire run. We were all given a cup to diluted 100Plus after our cooldowns and we gathered around a table to interact with our boatswain. We were briefed on what to expect during our BMT phase, his observation about us and some words of encouragement.

BMT phase of life..
We were joined by one new guy, for a total of 26 recruits - one of the smallest batch in IMOS history, if not the smallest batch. Our first two weeks+ of BMT life is under confinement yet again. During this phase, life is similar to our PTP, where we focus on building up our physical fitness. I am not sure how much I am allowed to post about my BMT life, but BMT in IMOS is a lot different from Tekong. While our course demands are lower, they made it up with higher regimentation. 



I must say, its a bit sad that I didn't find a lifelong friend in my BMT life, but then, as that chapter my of life has concluded, I should just move on.


GNTC & BSC life really is like a holiday camp. The only regimental part of BSC is our daily COLOURS and rounds. A part from that, we have lesson from about 8 45am till 5pm, with 1.5 hour lunch break and 2 tea breaks in between. Looking back, BSC really is a time where one should forge stronger bonds, but well, I again let this chance slip by, the additional 3 months spent in IMOS, while was fun, left me again, with no life long friend. A large part of it, is because of my pathetic social skills. It's amazing how things from my Secondary School life catches up to my current life and how great its effect affects me. Blah.

I am posted to my current unit on 09th April 12 with one other of my Course mate. The first day I was wearing civilian clothes sitting around in the lounge, waiting to be interviewed by our HD, I can't remember much from the interview, but he did mention that this interview helps him to get a feel of how we are like, where we could be best deployed. It is also where I would spend hours, from time to time, learning a bit about everything in life from him in the future. 

Stopped as of 13/02/2013 22 55
2nd edition stopped as of 14/02/2013 21 52