4 months as a soldier and my first RCP

I have not updated my entries for a long time. BMT is over and now I am in OCS. And guess what?

4 Months as a soldier.

10 weeks as an officer cadet...

and I committed the first negligence discharge on 280509. Guess I won't be home for a long time...

Life is unexpected.

It is funny how things turn out. When I started the year 2008, I remember I was worrying more about my college life next time and my AP exams. But look at what is one of the last things I do in 2008: A 4km (actually I heard we walked 6km because commanders cheat us) route march down Tekong Highway in full battle order.

I simply hate route marches. First, we are in full battle order so we move slowly and assemble slowly (so we knock it down average of 2 times). Then we walk at 5km/hr and complete 4km in less than an hour (By the time feel like dying already). Then (for reasons like we did not keep compact, keep in step or sing) we march another 3 rounds round the company building (300m per round). Then commanders not happy with our marching standard we knock it down again (lucky today we did not knock it down with our full battle order).

Well, life sucks but I dunno why I still want it to be suckier for I am aiming to go command school...

My last post for a long time (9 hrs from NS)

I can't help but sigh. Everything is happening all too fast and I will be enlisting in another 9hrs. Today is the last day of freedom for me, but it was a hectic day. I have been rushing to complete my applications to Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, PSC, DSTA and NUS. Now I am pretty much done, I just need to click on the submit button.

From the looks of it, I don't think I will get anywhere but NUS, cos NUS is the only University without a personal statement. My Cornell essay is screwed up as I did not really state why I want to go Cornell.Didn't do much research anyway. My DSTA essay is crappy and corny. My PSC essay is outdated. My Carnegie Mellon essay is screwed because...I dunno, it is just screwed. I also don't know what stupid mistakes I make along the way and my grades sucked big time. University applications are always a pain, but I guess I have done my best. I have always been afraid to submit my forms but I guess like I said in my previous posts: Do not fear. Do not regret. I hope I will do my best in NS too and have a wonderful experience. That is all I ask for, for now...

尽人力,顺天意!

Here is an old route march song to boost my morale:

Training to be soldiers,
Fight for our land.
Once in our life,
Two years of our time.
Have you ever wondered
why we must serve?
Cos we love our land,
and want it to be free to be free.

Looking all around us,
people everywhere.
Children having fun,
while we are holding guns.
Have you ever wondered
why we must serve?
Cos we love our land,
and want it to be free to be free!

尽人力,顺天意! To all the graduated boys from NUS High School: Let's do our best!

My Second Last Post Before NS!

I went to send the people off to Australia yesterday. We had dinner at Swensens where I ate this half done Sirlon Steak that was oozing with blood. Yum. I have no idea why it took so long to be served, I thought they made it well done... We did a couple of jump shots after that. I wished I can go with them but like Roy said,"Duty to the nation comes first." That's why I reminded those people to remember, when they return from Australia, the reason why they still have an island to return to. Haha must find a reason to feel "big". Apparently Yi Yi also left yesterday, but somehow we didn't see her. Perhaps she was at terminal one. We prepared a card for her and Jing Min took it to her. I have no idea if she will be returning to Singapore one day. All the foreigners like Hari, will all be going back. At least I heard the Vietnam friends like Long will be staying in NUS.

As time passes, I decided to leave to catch the last train back home. I went back with Eugenie, Reico, and two of Zhao Ye's juniors whom she tutored. Really miss those people going to Australia as they wished me one last good luck and scary well wishes like "Don't die in NS" and "grow fat in NS". We did manage to catch the last train to the city. On the way, we three seniors continued to preach stuff like "How to apply to University" and "How to do well in physics" and "How to get good CAP and don't be like us..." Well, extra tuition and college counseling on the MRT. One of the juniors just lived at the condo in front of my HDB so I managed to send her close to the gate, saving me from the wrath of Zhao Ye if anything happened to her junior. When she come back, I shall make an official report to her:

Recruit Ye reporting, Maam!

Mission accomplished on December 6, 2350 hrs. Escort safely arrived at rendezvous point!

Convocation 2008

Since I am uploading photos on facebook, I might as well do another post. Convocation was really interesting. We received our diploma from the guest of honor Dr Ng Eng Hen. After I received mine, I opened it to find it empty! Then the teacher backstage dumped me a big envelope that contained my transcripts.

After the ceremony, we went for "reception"(it was more like a buffet) at the hall and that was when the fun starts. Me and Abi wanted to take a picture with the minister. Abi had an ice-cream in his hand and we thought it would be cool to take with him while holding the ice-cream. But for about an hour, the minister had to talk to students and teachers until Abi's ice-cream melted :( We also took many crazy photos. I am telling Eugene to edit the one in which we pose as jedi knights and sith as our convo gowns look like jedi robes.

After convocation, I went out for dinner with a group of people at fish and co. We did all sorts of things to the drinks like adding pepper, salt and cheese XD. Benedict added cotton candy until his ice water turned red, then he asked for a top-up and the waitress was like "What drink is this?". He then complained that something went wrong with his ice water.

As we went home, we walked past the school again. There it stood, quiet in the night. Everybody was gone. We decided to take a few more pictures as we walked to clementi MRT. Me and Jing Min tried to take with Nan Hua but it din turn out that well. We had a few cool jump shots too. Elaine always seem to find some new ways to take photo and the girls really dun know death. They keep taking photos in the middle of Clementi avenue 1.

What will we be like 10 years later?

University Application and memories

After so many weeks of preparation for Carnegie Mellon Early Decision 2, I decided that I am not applying Early Decision 2. What a waste! I have done my reading up on the University and I think it is a great place to study in. However, if I cannot get a scholarship, there is no way I am going to pay for the high tuition fees. If I get in (I emphasize on the "if"), I am bound to the university and I will have to work part time. Life will be tough for both my parents and I.

Currently, I am going to apply for just Cornell and Carnegie Mellon University through regular decision. Commonapp is not as worth it as UCAS to spam college as I have to pay for every college I apply to. The personal statements are time consuming too. I also have to focus on applying to scholarships that I like, as well as start on the NUS application. I think these are more realistic procedures.

I guess people can guess why I suddenly have time to come online to blog. I don't really like blogging especially when there are important deadlines to meet (like application deadline). This coming monday is convocation, and I probably should blog about that, since my blog already missed out events like my trip back to China and prom.

I am really tired today. M05305's last chalet before graduation ended this morning and it was really fun. I can't believe that the game of truth and dare can be so sadistic and disgusting, but we just keep fooling around anyway. I think I just developed a new interest for the game of Risk, too bad the time this morning was too short and we only completed one game before we had to book out.

Well, I guess I should continue to finish up on my commonapp. Afterall I still have PSC, brightsparks and NUS applications to fill up. No idea when the nightmare is going to end. At this time of year, I can't help but wonder where all my friends will be 20 years down the road. Doctors, lawyers, bankers, engineers, researchers, musicians...we will all recall the memories in NUS High School. Reminds me of a song:

Midnight.
Not a sound from the pavement.
Has the moon lost her memory?
She is smiling alone.
In the lamp light, the withered leaves collect at my feet.
And the wind begins to moan.

Memory.
All alone in the moonlight,
I can smile at the old days.
It was beautiful then.
I remember the time when I knew what happiness was.
Let the memory live again!

Daylight.
I must wait for the sunrise.
I must think of a new life.
And I musn't give in.
When the dawn comes tonight will be a memory too,
and a new day shall begin!

Last Day of School

I feel so numb on the last day of school. Everyone around me were trying to treasure every last moment they spent in school today but somehow I could not get into that mood.

I ran another race today for Fleming. Li Ang said that he cannot cope with 3 race in a row so I subbed him for 4 x 400m. I joined a team of juniors and they are all damn fast! The race ended without me knowing what position we got, I think we got 4th. I don't think there is anyway we could have outran Cai Yue, Clement and Nat.

The day ended with a farewell party from the juniors of table tennis club. Yan Long ordered pizza and all the year 6s received a farewell gift (a bottle of folded stars). I must really thank Wen Xin for making this. According to Yan Long, she was given a short notice and finished the job within one day! This is what I call efficiency.

I think just like the astronomy club, this table tennis club will be very special to me as it was founded by me, Yun Ying and Dominic (Leslie and Jia Jun too, but they betrayed us and joined badminton initially). We took a great deal of effort to persuade Mrs Lim Jee Nee(forgot how to spell her name) to let us set up this club. We also managed to pull through 2 years with $0 funds from the school (we must thank Mr Chai for his dedication to this team as I guess he payed the original funds). In fact, money only starts coming in this year. I do not know how much the juniors treasure this CCA but I wish they will continue to commit and achieve what we have failed to achieve.

I also talked to one of the year 3s whom I tutored for physics this morning. I found out that he managed to pass his mechanics which is great. I also heard that the other juniors from the tutoring scheme put up by the physics department are also doing well. I really hope that the juniors work harder and maintain the standard of NUS High School(and get that freaking 4.5 CAP). This is because I have been trying to fill up scholarship and university applications and my transcript looked very depressing. Even if I am granted an interview, I guess I will have to think of 101 excuses why I got so many Bs and Cs and so few As. I truly wish that the juniors do not make the same mistake as I did. Now I can only try for scholarships and Universities, but it is most probable that I will end up in NUS in the end.

So do work hard, juniors of NUS High School!