Notes of comparison:

Our neighbour's National Service is only 3 months long, and does not inculcate weapon training in its curiculumn. Ours is 24 to 30 months long, trains us in the use of dangerous weapons, and yet both meet their objective of creativng social cohesion among the races.

First, it's Nicoll Highway; Now, it's a construction site. Both sites caved in due to a weak infrastructure. Are contracters stingying on their materials?

Train operator SMRT decides no fare hike this year
A good thing too, since "SMRT earned S$89.5 million in the year ended March 31, up from S$72.1 million in the previous fiscal year."
Is the consumer's doller well spent on upgrading the infrastructure and facilities provided by SMRT?

Attended the PRIDE(Quoted from a certain ATC medic:"People rest, I do everything") day exhibition. What initially was a mundane celebrations soon became a meeting of sorts, as I met many of my former platoonmates, schoolmates and even my buddy.

Most of my former platoonmates, having been commissioned, are now at BMTC. A Secondaryschool mate is a clerk, another is a signal spec, my JCmate is going through Spec II, and I managed to catch a glimpse of my camp's future specs.

Well, on a lighter note, here's wishing you a Happy Labour Day!

Yesterday, I conducted my first ever lesson, courtesy of a friendly arrow. What was meant to be a small and brief lesson for thirteen new recruits soon became a monumental refresher course for nearly ten times as many recruits! Obviously, someone felt that the lesson whould not be 'wasted' on so few fellas. Well, I had no qualms about that, except the fact that what I was going to run through was exactly what a hundred-odd of them have already learnt hardly a month before! As a result, many of them found excuses to go to the washroom (and hid there for much of the lesson, I believe).

Workload has piled up since I last touched it three weeks ago. A slight mess was made out of the documentation, but thankfully it was short of a disaster. To set everything in order, I had to spend the entire of yesterday and much of today plowing through all the backlog.

SOC today. OTOT and at our own pace. Thank goodness for that.

SMS Quote of the Day:
" The fort has collapsed in on itself. There are some things that require your attention. But you will have many elves under your control."
I wonder how bad can the situation be...

Banner sighted:
"Whoever does not know love does not know God. God is Love"
Hence, God is a state of the mind.

McDonald's did not inform us of a price discrepancy if we order Milo. They are at fault, since the cashier asked me if I wanted "Coffee, Tea or Milo" to go with my Extra Value Meal.

NTUC Building's security is tighter than that of the Pentagon, or even any CIA/MI6 Building! You need access codes for every room in the building. I went over there to collect a gift, and someone was having an interview, so she chased us out of the reception (what an irony!) room to the lift lobby, and we were treated like deranged intruders and Outcasts. This is security overkill coupled with an extremely insensitive staff. Someone must be answerable to this.

Brunei Jungle Training

Remember to salvage the newspapers from the plane; They’d come in handy during area cleaning.

Be prepared to wash your own dishes ala SAF circa 1970.

Rest in bunk whenever possible. Do not expand your excess energy in camp. Save it up for Biang.

Do not touch any part of the chopper except the seat belts. A window was smashed during one certain heliborne operation.

The waiters at the cookhouse are friendly RODing personnel.

Anyone above the rank of a Major is entitled to personal dining services.

Western food is rather good, except the slightly stingy portions of French fries.

Pray for cloudy skies with no rain for the duration of your stay there.

Carry the standard items (Read: required items) and do not place your shoulders on too much of a strain, or your legs may give way under the immense pressure of your fieldpack.

Prata (somehow spelt ‘Phrata’) is the most value-for-money dish in the canteen. And I didn’t get to try it.

Two and a half years in Brunei as an NSF can get you enough money to purchase a small house there.

NOMAD is fun. Really. That is, if you know how to mix leisure with work. We ended up as one of the Top 3 groups and yet had the time to locate shrimp, have lunch by the stream and cross Indiana Jones-style logs well situated between two cliffs.

Be prepared to use guide sticks to help you scale several near-vertical knolls.

Dessert tastes great when soaked in the cool stream water for half an hour. Just keep an eye out for it though… The currents might get to it before you do.

Bring along a camera (if you are allowed so). The picturesque landscape makes great photography.

When you see deadfall or trees that have apparently been struck by lightning in the past, make haste and move out of the area, pronto!

Cover your fieldpacks with trash bags at night when you sleep. There was a night sighting of ‘thousands of ants’ so numerous, they were ‘covering the entire ground’. Don’t say you weren’t warned…

Keep your money and valuables with you at all times in camp whenever possible. Theft is a common and real occurrence.

The crossing at Batu Apoi is really not any more challenging than the one at Seletar.

Biang is only difficult towards the summit, which is rocky and hence slippery when it rains.

When it comes to knolls, rest only atop one. This is so as not to dampen your morale. It’s for your own good.

Cicadas are native to Brunei. Do not kill them out of irritation.

The canteen operators have some attitude problem. You have to bear with them.

Brunei R&R

Show consideration when having a buffet. This is not a eat-all-you-can. There are many souls as hungry as you are.

Use your right hand. Point with your thumb.

So not shout across the mall. (“OEI! HERE VERY CHEEEAP!!! COME, COME!”)

Humility is a gracious way of life all around the world. Respect your environment.

Brunei Prawn Crackers are world famous. Grab them if you can.

Miscellaneous

Photo development costs in a shopping center in Brunei:

3R $0.25
4R $0.30

They sell machinery you can only find at SEARS: Ice crushers, manual/automated sugarcane maker, Bread slicers, Mee Maker, Bean Grinders and Hot Dog Griddles.

Just returned from Brunei earlier in the day. The last time I went on a holiday, the RSS Courageous sunk. This time round, I missed out on the collapse of part of the Nicoll Highway. I'll piece together my trip over the next few days. In the meantime, I'll be hitting the box for fresh updates on the situation downtown.

Well, will be leaving for Brunei in just an hour's time. Fingers are crossed and we're all hoping for fine weather, clear skies and a smooth time there.

Elections, elections everywhere... I wonder if it'll be safe in Brunei...

So far so good; Our Northern Neighbours has achieved a certain degree of political stability, Our Southern ones look set to 'win big' and in the land of many islands, a Great Drama is unfolding.

Will be back in three weeks time to update my blog again...

Just came home for Pre-embarkation off. Will be leaving for Brunei this coming Friday.

Hope the weather there's fine; Not too hot such that there will be heat injuries, yet not too wet such that the terrain will be impassable at places.

Now off to a chalet and much needed rest; akin to the calm before the storm.

You are the chinese element of Wood. People who
are under the element of wood are practical,
focused and like to learn. Wood, you are a
natural leader, but you also like to control a
lot, you're never still and especially hate to
lose. The color of wood is blue/green and your
symbol is the dragon. Spring is the season in
which wood shines, and it's months are
January/February. Your weather condition is
rain. Wood is the direction east, and your day
is Thursday, while your planet is Jupiter.
Animals under your element are usually scaled.
People under you are the Mongols. Your sense is
sight, your taste is sour, your sound is
calling and your virtue is benevolence. Your
organ is the liver. You were created by Water
and you control Earth.


Which of the 5 Chinese Elements Are You?

Just returned from Duty yesterday. My hopes to leave early were dashed when I realized there was a need to cover for P Coy. After an uneventful (Thankfully) two hours, I went back to the Medical Centre. On the way there, I noticed a grand setup of tentages in the 46 Parade Square. It's their POP today, so I'm pretty luck not to be on duty today...

On the other hand, it wasn't an auspicious sign yesterday either. After assuming duty yesterday morning and completing the mundane tasks required of the DM, I recieved a suspicious call from the MIS team. Within a minute, everyone had bolted to work, touching up on our general cleaniness and making the cabinets appear more presentable. They eventaully arrived around ten. As a result of the visit, I was already pretty exhausted even before lunchtime.

Our Duffel Bags were painted today, thanks to Melvin, Vincent and Dennis.

Off to Brunei next week. Better brush up on my herb recognition skills...

The new fellas arrived on Thursday evening, and had a night's off and long weekend on two consecutive nights. How fortunate. They seem to be pretty nice fellas.

We went for Heliborne Ops last Thursday, and my, was it an exciting experience... I had the privilege of occupying the best seat (NB. The Right Window Seat), and hovering low over Tengah Reservoir, such a feeling can only be replicated by an amusement park ride. The hasty preparation meant that we had little time to waste, and boarding the UH-1H Huey was a simple affair (Speaking of budget travel, the heliborne assistants hardly orientated us to the inflight entertainment system!) A Thumbs up and off we go. CARMO also took the opportunity to grace the event as well, resulting in a grand (more 'garang' than usual) display by my group upon dismounting.

P Coy's report sick rate is falling. That's good.

Encik's leg is giving him problems. I think he needs some status to allow him to rest from ARR training.

Someone's tendancy to produce ten-point ultimatums everytime he gathers us for a 'briefing' is scary.

The New Batch of Medics will be arriving here tommorrow. That'll lighten my workload trememdously. Thank heavens.

The dogs have reproduced. There has been new sightings of a 'cute, crossbred puppy'.

I now take the long route back. My experiences with the canine kind has taught me well.

Points to Ponder: The Tekong Incident

LATEST!


"Police say a survey ship spotted the two remaining fugitives on the beach at 10am.

It alerted the Police Coast Guard which arrived half an hour later to nab them. "

So much for efficiency. In 30 minutes, the fugitives would have been able to travel 3 kilometres, according to standard SAF Route March speeds. That would make the Police Coast Guard's job even more difficult, since they could be anywhere within a 3 km radius of the point they were initially spotted.

"He had 91 Malaysian ringgits and a gold ring on him."

... Did he chance upon the Ninja van (Which would explain why he's out of cash and yet not hungry)? What happened to the ringgits he got from the bank? Hmm... This is all beginning to sound very dubious.


Well, now at home enjoying my first bookout this month.


Osama found?

"Some 30,000 residents have fled the area since Tuesday."

Together with Osama, or the 'high value target', I presume.